Vivi memor leti
by sunnycalendargirl
Summary: Memories of the future haunt Tsuna in transformative ways. As he grows as a boss and a friend, his relationships with the people around him change in many ways. R27, X27, 1827, ALL27, all sorts of pairings, really.
1. Prologue: Ab initio

**Author's Notes**

* * *

I'm not a huge fan of lengthy author's notes in fan fiction, but in this case I feel that some early clarifications are necessary, as I've diverged here and there from canon in some ways I'd like to explain, to avoid a flurry of questions about why I might have done that.

**Ownership:** I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, and never will. So this is all done for my own fun and entertainment.

**Title:** The title of this story, "Vivi memor leti" translates to "I live remembering death". It refers specifically to Tsuna's memories of the events in the future. Chapters and future additional story arcs will be titled in a similar way. Latin is good for the soul.

**Ratings and pairings:** **This is an NC-17 story.** There is sex. Specifically it contains yaoi, yuri, and heterosexual interactions between a variety of characters. There is a lot of it. Be prepared. If you don't like it, don't read it.

More specifically, the primary relationship focus through this story and its following story arcs is Reborn/Tsuna (R27). However, Tsuna has physical and emotional relationships with a lot of people in this set of stories, and other people have interactions with each other as well. You'll see pretty much every Guardian (including Chrome) in some way with Tsuna at some point in time. You'll see Xanxus and Tsuna as well. Again, if you don't like that idea, don't read it.

**Timeline:** This is set a little over two years after the Ten Years Later story arc in the manga and anime. Tsuna and most of his friends are sixteen or seventeen now, depending on the range of ages starting out. Lambo and I-pin are nine years old and Futa is just barely thirteen. The two younger kids are in primary school and Futa is in middle school. The older teens have moved up to high school.

**Back Story:** The initial premise of this story is that when the Ten Years Later arc ended and they returned to their own time, their memories were altered. So they simply believe that they'd been at one of Reborn's training camps and that's where the box weapons and additional skills have come from. The girls' memories are altered to have been cooking and providing cheering and so on for the training. This is done to prevent them from doing anything rash in an attempt to change the future.

Unfortunately, Tsuna's Sky ring retains the memories and emotions of the events in the future and he starts having nightmares of those events that haunt him for the next two years. As a result of those dreams, he's started changing his relationships with the people around him. Over time his desperation to avoid losing the people he cares about starts changing him as well.

**Relevant Notations:** This was written after episode 158 aired and after chapter 251 in the manga. So anything happening in canon past those points might not appear or apply in this story. This is to avoid any attempts by me to go in and backfill facts, which I am very likely to do as I watch or read new canon materials. I have to cut myself off at some point and understand that things will become AU after that point.

Which brings me to the next note. This story is AU. I am changing the story away from the canon deliberately in many places to work on the portrayal of how Tsuna would or will evolve after these events as a person and a leader, and how it affects his relationships with the people around him. Not to mention all the sex.

**Textual/Content Notations:** I've diverged from the current canon in several ways. First of all, you'll see in the story that Tsuna refers to most of his Guardians by first name now. After almost four years together, I believe this would be the case. He refers to Hibari as Hibari out of respect (although that will change over time), and the future Hibari as Hibari-san out of a deeper sense of self-preservation. The children have all taken to calling Tsuna "Tsuna-nii".

I've retained the common Japanese naming structure, in that introductions for Japanese characters is last name, first name. For characters of other nationalities, it is first name, last name. I've also retained Japanese suffixes where I feel they are appropriate. In regards to the naming of various Vongola leaders, I'm sticking with the Italian structure (Primo, Decimo, etc.), rather than incorporating too many Japanese words.

In addition, I'm using the word "family" in two different contexts and so I will do my best to be consistent about differentiating between them using capital and non-capital letters. "Family" refers to a mafia Family, and "family" refers to what most people would consider a normal family unit. So when Tsuna refers to a person being "family" and "Family", it means that he considers them to be a part of both parts of his life.

**Feedback and Length:** Lastly, this is a long story. It's sitting at over 40,000 finished words as I start posting it, and will continue to grow. There are notations and story plans laid out for dozens more chapters and following story arcs as well.

Feedback and comments are always appreciated, constructive as well as opinions. Character attacks and inflammatory comments, however, will be deleted. No one needs to see people bashing the things that they care about, most especially in regards to sexuality, communication and feelings.

**Prologue: Ab initio (Namimori / Japan / Ten Years in the Future)**

* * *

The timeline of his life probably resembled abstract art more than it would a steady progression of dates, events and experiences, Tsuna thought, eyes wandering over the people surrounding him. Especially the past few months, with jumps forward and backward in time, all just to correct problems that by now Tsuna had realized were at least partially caused by his own unwillingness to provide his mafia Family with what they needed from him. It tore him apart, his mind constantly reciting a litany of bad choices that had lead to the rise of the Millefiore and the near-downfall of the Vongola, realizing how his own weaknesses has hurt so many people that he loved so much.

As his Family gathered around him, finally victorious but not without cost, Tsuna ignored Shouichi's statements about how during their return to the past, their memories would be altered to avoid any sort of time/space paradox. He wanted to forget all of this and return to the innocent boy he'd been before. Sure, the skills he'd learned made him stronger, but he wanted to wipe the violence, the anger, the disgust from his mind. Tsuna desperately wanted that clean slate and allow him to forgive himself.

Tsuna's inner turmoil was very likely the reason he didn't notice the quiet flames flaring from his Vongola ring as the process began. Some part of him realized that something was off as his mind blurred during the transition, but not enough to panic him. It had to be part of the return to their time, which was odd enough as it was.

What he wouldn't realize for close to two years after the events of the past months spent in the future was that the Sky ring of the Vongola forgot nothing. He should have remembered standing before his predecessors whose sins were catalogued before his very eyes as he was tried and tested by them. It would start slowly, but within months of their return, the dreams of the future started. At first they came once a week, maybe twice. By the time Tsuna started high school with his friends, they were a nightly occurrence.

It took him much less time to realize that the nightmares that shook him awake in the middle of the night were influencing him directly. Tsuna found himself bringing new people into the Family whose faces echoed those he saw in his dreams; people something inside Tsuna demanded that he save. The fear in his dreams sharpened his mind over time and he found himself making more and more decisions for himself as well. His days of begging Reborn to decide things for him passed quickly, after that.

By the time Tsuna celebrated his sixteenth birthday, surrounded by Family and friends, he'd finally caught on to some of what was happening, and he'd started to plan. The nightmares were merciless, and more than any training Reborn put him through, the images Tsuna saw roused his Vongola blood and began to force changes in him. He did his best not to worry the people around him and instead focused on small changes and small actions, working slowly to do everything he could to prevent those horrible dreams from coming true.

Tsuna never again wanted to hear that Reborn had died, along with his fellow Arcobaleno. He never wanted to watch Takeshi mourn his father, simply because he'd chosen to befriend Tsuna when they were so young. The idea of the brilliance of some of his newer friends being turned towards murder and destruction practically enraged him. The thought of losing a single one of them was devastating.

In those two years following the trip to the future that his Family remembered solely as some extreme training session of Reborn's, in which they gained new weapons and skills, Tsuna slowly came into his own. Rather than fighting his destiny, he learned. The realization that the only way he could protect the people he loved was to fight for them drove him mercilessly.

His actions, when taken, were subtle but sharp. Tsuna learned to listen to Reborn, even more so than he had in the past. As the bond between them deepened and strengthened, it wasn't only the Arcobaleno who noticed their connection. Throughout the mafia underworld, rumors spread about the young Vongola Decimo and his tutor, the most dangerous hitman alive.

All of this, however, Tsuna did his best to hide from his Family for now. They deserved their innocence and their childhood. Never again would he willingly put his own needs and wants before theirs. Not if the results were the scenes that played in his head, over and over, night after night.

The only peace Tsuna found in his sleep was when some change he made, or action he took, seemed to be the right one. Then, one of the nightmares would vanish, never repeating itself again. It was his hope that before it was too late, he could eliminate all of them.

* * *

*Title translates to "In the beginning".


	2. Chapter I: Memores acti prudentes futuri

**Chapter I: Memores acti prudentes futuri (Sawada Household / Namimori / Japan / Present Day)**

* * *

Becoming a mafia boss as a teenager honestly had very little to recommend it, Tsuna mused to himself as he struggled to wake up at what he considered to be a painfully early hour of the morning. It wasn't just the dodgy legal aspects of the job; it was also the people, the paperwork, and the insanity that had come along with it. None of that merged well with making your way through middle or high school at the same time, and far too often he had to force himself up early to handle a few things before breakfast and his normal dash to school. It had been hard enough with just training and learning when he was in middle school, but now that he'd started high school and taken on more of the adult Family responsibilities, there were days it just seemed overwhelming.

It didn't help that his sleep was constantly haunted by nightmares that some deep, aware part of his mind knew weren't his imagination. They came every night now, these dreams in which people he cared about were gone; lost forever, or worse, being hunted, simply because they were his to protect. He saw himself mourning person after person, felt himself shake with the strain of worrying whether the people he cared about would make it back to him safely. The worst, however, was watching the person he was closest to in the world suffer as his subconscious mind flailed desperately to find ways to save him.

He could see it clearly, even though he was awake and sitting up now. It had become a sequence of images that haunted him to the depth of his being. He could see Reborn growing paler with his energy waning as his body gave out on him. Just sitting there in his bed, Tsuna could hear the rasp of Reborn's breathing as he faded; always struggling with everything he had in him to survive, until he finally couldn't anymore. Tsuna's body shook with the memory of the dream, his hands clenching painfully hard on his arms.

This wasn't something that Tsuna could allow to happen. There was a lot that Tsuna would sacrifice to protect his growing Family, but Reborn was not now, nor would he ever be, one of them. Still, he knew that telling Reborn about his dreams wouldn't solve the problem. Every time his mouth opened to mention it, a jolt would go through him, slamming his mouth shut again. It had taken a couple of years for Tsuna to grow used to this inherent insight that he was told was part of his bloodline, but at this point he knew himself well enough to listen to it.

Shaking himself to clear his head, Tsuna looked over to the corner of his room and had to chuckle lightly. He'd managed to wake up before Reborn for once, which meant no violent shock or beating to wake him up and no commentary on being lazy for the morning. Wedging himself back into the corner of his bed, he let the wall take the bulk of his weight, leaning against it as he watched his tutor sleep.

There had to be something more that he could do to prevent all of this. If he couldn't talk to Reborn, who could he talk with? While his friends were an integral part of his life at this point, he knew they'd brush off his concerns as nothing to worry about. He was sure they wouldn't understand the sense of urgency that drove him to solve this puzzle. He set his mind to untangling the puzzle until Reborn woke for the morning and sat up, glancing over at him and smiling slightly. By the time Reborn spoke, the start of the answer had finally come to Tsuna.

"You're up early," Reborn commented, hopping down from his hammock and pulling off his nightcap. "Don't tell me you had nightmares about your chemistry class again."

"No, not this time," Tsuna rubbed his head in embarrassment. It had been just the once, and it wasn't his fault that a spicy dinner and stress over his homework had him dreaming about vampire test tubes. "It must have been your snoring that woke me up. Maybe I need to buy earplugs."

He expected the whack in the face that came in the form of a projectile pillow and took it with good grace, groaning as he fell over on the bed. "Why do you have to be so violent? Babies should be cute and sweet with angelic hearts. Don't you ever listen to what Haru tells you, Reborn?"

"I'm a hitman," Reborn replied, as if that held all the answers to the world's questions. In a way, Tsuna supposed it did, really, especially in regard to Reborn. Still, he didn't have time to banter back and forth the way they normally did. His mind had finally thrown out an idea that he thought might work.

"Reborn, summer break is coming soon," he offered thoughtfully. "We don't have anything planned, so I want to take a trip."

Reborn's attention focused on him like a shark in bloody water; sharp, alert and dangerous. "It's not like you to just decide something like that. I thought you'd want to sleep the whole time."

"I know," Tsuna shrugged lightly. "But Takeshi will have baseball camp for most of it, and we can take Hayato with us, if he wants to go. It would be nice to break up the routine a little bit and get away."

"What kind of trip? You want to take the girls to an onsen, so you can peek?" Reborn teased him lightly while dressing for the day in his customary suit and fedora, settling Leon on the brim of his hat. He chuckled as Tsuna blushed and flailed for a minute at the suggestion before the boy calmed down again. As always, Reborn ignored the indignant look Tsuna sent his way.

"I want to go to Italy." It was the last thing Reborn would have expected from his student and Tsuna was slightly amused to see those dark, dangerous eyes blink in honest surprise. "Yes, you heard me. I want to visit the Ninth and talk to him for a while. I haven't really had a chance to see any of our facilities in Italy, except on paper or on the computer. It wouldn't hurt to get to know them better."

"You can talk to him easily enough on the phone or over the webcam, Tsuna," Reborn told him bluntly. "You do it every couple of weeks to report in, now that you've taken over small bits of responsibility for the Family. It's a long trip just to socialize and see what things look like."

"I need to speak with him in person, Reborn." Tsuna didn't offer a reason why this would be different than the other conversations he had with the old man. Reborn knew the difference between somewhat private and something truly secret. "Would you please arrange it? I need at least a week, maybe two. I'm sure you wouldn't mind visiting the old country for a while, right?"

With that, Tsuna got up and started changing into his school uniform, hoping Reborn would for once in their relationship simply accept what Tsuna asked of him without question. There was no way he was going to risk Reborn overhearing what he had to discuss with the Ninth, much less risk anyone else overhearing any of it. It was too dangerous and too important to leave to chance like that.

Reborn watched Tsuna thoughtfully while he dressed before finally nodding sharply in agreement. "Practice your Italian then, because I won't translate for a boy who thinks he can order me around like a servant. You're decades too young to even try it."

"Yes, Reborn." Tsuna smiled gratefully at him. "I'll brush up on it with Hayato every day after school until we go." It would be something fun for the both of them and give Hayato a chance to do something for Tsuna, which the other teen needed regularly. It had taken a while for Tsuna to learn how to meet Hayato's needs effectively, but doing so had helped the other boy grow a lot in the past couple of years. It was really all about being needed for him, in the end.

Satisfied for now, Reborn turned and headed downstairs in search of breakfast. Tsuna rushed to finish dressing and head down, knowing that his breakfast would be gone if he didn't make it in time. That was just another aspect of his crazy mafia life these days. Thankfully his extra work brought him some money as well, so he could afford to buy something to eat on the way to school if he lost the battle royal that was breakfast in the Sawada household.

* * *

*Title translates to "Mindful of what has been done, aware of what will be".


	3. Chapter II: Si vis amari ama

**Chapter II: Si vis amari ama (Namimori / Japan / Present Day)**

* * *

**A/N:** This chapter contains adult material, specifically 1827 (Hibari/Tsuna) interaction and mentions of Hibari/Adult!Lambo and Tsuna/Adult!Lambo interaction as well.

One of the things Tsuna enjoyed the most about his Family, and had almost since the beginning, was not eating his lunch alone anymore. Pretty much every day he could make his way up to the roof of the school if the weather was good and someone would join him. On days when Takeshi and Hayato were tied up with things and couldn't make it, Tsuna would sometimes find Hibari eating silently in a corner as well.

On the really unique days, Lambo and I-pin would sneak over from the primary school. They were masters at tracking him down, and they would pile onto him in a wave of energy and enthusiasm. Once he managed to settle them down, all three would open lunches made by his mom and eat them cheerfully together, the kids snatching bits of Tsuna's lunch whenever they could.

Today happened to be one of those days, and before long, Tsuna was sprawled on the roof, his back against the wall along the edge, and each of the two had claimed one of his thighs as a pillow while they stared up at the clouds. Full stomachs made for sleepy children. He couldn't resist running affectionate fingers over their hair slowly, enjoying their presence. It wasn't often he got to have a nice, quiet break like this.

"You're both very cute when you're not destroying buildings," he teased them, ruffling their hair.

"Tsuna-nii, we haven't blown anything up in weeks!" I-pin replied, all innocence and light, beaming at him. It made him happy once again that he'd put so much time into making her both family and Family over the past few years. It unnerved him, thinking about her calling him Sawada-san in the future.

"That's because Lambo hasn't gotten a shipment from home lately and is out of explosives, " Tsuna replied.

It amused him when Lambo tilted his head back to look up at them both and nodded his agreement. "Boss is being stingy right now."

He was still laughing when he heard the scrape of the door to the roof as it opened and he glanced over sharply. While it was unlikely for an enemy to infiltrate the school with the others around, his kids were here with him today and it tended to make him more alert. When he spotted Hibari, he twitched for an entirely different reason.

"I-pin," he said, covering her eyes. "You don't have time to blow up and get back to school before the bell. Hop off the side of the building and down, and I'll take you to see Hibari later, all right?"

She nodded obediently and in a flash was over the protective fence, on the ground three stories down and on her way back to her own campus. That left Tsuna and Lambo to face Hibari, who was staring at the mess they'd made but not gotten around to cleaning up yet. Tsuna sighed and nudged Lambo gently.

"Clean up your mess, Lambo. You know Hibari can't stand messes. If he gets mad he'll whack you again." There was nothing quite as noisy as a Hibari and Lambo brawl, but it always ended in tears for Lambo and bruises for Tsuna.

Lambo nodded obediently and got up, picking up his mess and hustling over to the garbage can by Hibari. As he passed the older boy, Hibari hissed at him slightly in disapproval and Lambo startled and then tripped, falling and spilling his mess everywhere. The world froze for Tsuna for a moment and then he saw the scrape on Lambo's knee that was bleeding now and then Lambo wailed.

Tsuna bolted up from his seat and across the roof as fast as he could on his own two feet but failed to make it in time. He would never figure out where the hell Lambo managed to store that damned bazooka but if he ever did, he'd find a way to steal it forever. Unfortunately for Tsuna and Lambo, the boy was so upset that he tripped again as he stood and the bazooka went off, pointed directly at Hibari.

Tsuna sighed and rubbed his face, having a pretty good idea of what might happen next. This wasn't the first time the two had clashed on the roof, and not the first time Hibari had been nailed with the bazooka in the past year or so. Depending on the more mature Hibari's mood on arrival, Tsuna would end up fighting for his life, being lectured on responsible behavior, being ignored or lately, more deviant things. It didn't help that the visits were no longer limited to a mere five minutes. Something had shifted after their long visit to the future, and he'd been stuck with a mature Hibari for up to a full day and night before they'd switched back, although it varied.

"Lambo, go back to school," Tsuna ordered him, helping him up from the ground and straightening out his clothes for him. "Stop by the nurse's office and get that knee taken care of, okay?"

"Yes, Tsuna-nii," Lambo whimpered, reassured slightly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay," Tsuna told him, ruffling his hair. "I'll apologize for you and take care of things. You have math next with I-pin, so hurry."

He watched the boy run off and then turned to face Hibari, closing the door to the roof behind Lambo. Normally a good glance would tell him what to expect for the next few hours at least. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there were no weapons immediately in sight. That boded well for him not getting his ass handed to him. On the other hand, the rumbled and somewhat messy look Hibari was sporting boded poorly for the safety of Tsuna's ass in other ways.

The first time he'd seen Hibari looking like that, the other man had actually growled at him and shoved him down the stairs, locking him away from the roof and Tsuna'd heard the pounding sound of him taking some sort of frustration out on a brick wall. The second time had been the first time Tsuna could remember any aged Hibari actually touching him in any way other than a beating, a shove or similar actions. That time, it had taken Hibari a moment to catch on and before he had, Tsuna'd found himself pinned to the wall with someone else's tongue in his mouth and a hand on his ass.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi," Hibari growled; a deep, dangerous sound that somehow managed to make Tsuna whimper, although not in the normal fear-induced way he might have in the past. "I think the future is about to give the younger me quite the inappropriate shock."

Glancing down, Tsuna noticed that Hibari's slacks were unzipped and drooping slightly. "Please tell me he's not about to see me with my ass in the air, or anything equally humiliating."

"I don't lie," Hibari replied, looking him over in what could only be defined as a predatory manner. "Given what we were doing, I'd say he's in for quite the education today." He paused for a moment. 'You've grown since the last time that ridiculous herbivore used that toy of his on me."

"Well, it has been about three months," Tsuna told him, edging nervously away. "I hit a growth spurt in the spring.

"How fortunate," Hibari stalked towards him in a way that reminded Tsuna of being hunted, "as I was convinced that you should be left alone until you reached a certain point in your development. It seems you have, so some of those limitations no longer apply."

Tsuna contemplated running for it, but to be honest, part of him was curious as to what limitations his future self had convinced Hibari to abide by. So instead, he licked his lips nervously and then looked up to meet Hibari's eyes. "What do you mean, Hibari-san? Limitations?"

"Yes. You're quite insistent about it." Hibari prowled closer, arms lashing out to pin Tsuna in place. "No touching your mouth until you turned fifteen. No touching your cock until you've turned sixteen. No fucking you until you've gotten halfway to seventeen. That date's getting closer now."

"Fuck me, Hibari-san?" Tsuna asked, blushing bright red at Hibari and watched Hibari's smirk grow.

"As much as I would enjoy that, I told you it's not possible for a little longer." Hibari leaned in and sucked Tsuna's bottom lip into his mouth and bit it lightly before releasing it again. "So don't ask me to do things you've already asked me not to do later in your life."

"I wasn't asking you to!" Tsuna whimpered and stared at him in a very deer-in-headlights manner. "Not that I'm encouraging you, Hibari-san, but what's so important about those limitations that's holding you back? You don't usually listen to other people."

"It's simple enough. I have no interest in having you under me before you learn to enjoy what I'll be doing to you regularly." Hibari's mouth moved, drifting along Tsuna's jaw and nipping here and there along the way. "So it's better for me to let you learn and then take you when you're ready. I get enough virginal squealing from the little cow-sheep boy when I take him."

Tsuna's mind derailed completely at the thought of Hibari fucking Lambo ten years in the future. "There goes my hope of any of us turning out anywhere near normal."

"Don't worry, the little brat likes it. He even begs for it when you're away and he gets too lonely." Hibari bit Tsuna's earlobe sharply. "I have to admit he's somewhat endearing when his eyes tear up like that."

"I grow up to be a giant, raging pervert, don't I?" Tsuna asked, whimpering again. "How much of a pervert am I?"

Hibari's eyes gleamed in amusement as his hands set to work on Tsuna's pants, opening them easily. In moments, his pants and boxers were around his ankles and he was turned to face the wall with Hibari pressed so tightly against him that Tsuna gasped. He had no trouble figuring out that the hard, hot, silky thing rubbing between the cheeks of his ass was Hibari's cock. It was slippery-slick on his skin and Tsuna now had a damned good idea of what they'd been up to in the future.

"It's Thursday, ten years from now," Hibari told him, rubbing against him slowly while reaching down to grasp Tsuna's cock, stroking it tightly. "On Sunday you spent the early afternoon on your knees between Hayato and Takeshi. We'll have to replace that carpet, I think. Monday, Rokudo Mukuro came in to report on his latest mission and you locked everyone out of your office to discuss it with him. We could hear both of you all the way down the hall and around the corner."

Tsuna couldn't keep himself from moaning at what he was hearing, his mind unable to even picture it. At least he doesn't die a virgin, he thought. Before he realized it, he was thrusting back against Hibari's cock and forward again into his hand, his body reveling in the sensations.

"Tuesday, the former infant came home for a day and no one saw either of you until the next day. Who knew he was such a randy bastard?" Hibari mused, panting slightly at the added friction of Tsuna's movements. "He left again the next morning and Wednesday evening that infuriating monkey from Varia showed up. By the time you two were done, we had to have the baths drained and cleaned." Hibari bit Tsuna's neck as if to punish him for the trouble. "Strangely enough, for once he was the one limping when you were done. Thursday is my day this week, but I consented to sharing with the cow-sheep boy, because he was crying for some of your time."

"Nnghhh…fuck, Hibari-san," Tsuna's hands clawed at the wall slightly as he shuddered in arousal. "Lambo watches us do things like this?"

"Watch?" Hibari chuckled darkly as he increased the speed of his movements, his hand stroking Tsuna roughly. "No Tsunayoshi, he doesn't watch. He's usually underneath you with his mouth on your cock while I fuck you. He loves the taste of you, the naughty little brat."

Tsuna's mind flashed an image of the future Lambo with his mouth around Tsuna's cock and that was it for him. He yowled and came, spilling over Hibari's hand as pleasure swamped his mind. He moaned as he felt Hibari tense behind him and then his cock pulsed and hot, wet stickiness washed along Tsuna's ass. Some part of him purred inside at bringing pleasure to the older Hibari.

"Mmm…Tsunayoshi. You're getting more and more interesting as you get older." Hibari nipped at the back of his neck, making sure to leave a dark and obvious mark. "Make sure to trip the baby cow again in a few months and we'll have an entirely different conversation."

A quick flick of his hand and he pulled the handkerchief from his suit pocket and wiped both Tsuna and his own hand clean with delicate swipes. Tucking it away again, he pulled back to straighten his suit properly. Finally free, Tsuna scrambled for his own pants as well, tugging them up and zipping them, his face glowing red.

"The future me isn't raping the younger you or something, is he? That would cause some real embarrassment for both of us for the rest of the afternoon, maybe even for life." Tsuna flailed a bit mentally at the thought. "In the whole 'he'll beat me to death for what I did then' sort of way."

"There's only one way to find out," Hibari told him, smirking slightly as he glanced at his watch. "And you should be finding out right about-"

There was a poof of smoke and he was gone. Tsuna's eyes slid down to find the younger Hibari in front of him and found himself blushing again. It didn't bother him quite as much as he'd thought it would because Hibari was as rumpled as he was and blushing just as red. On the side of Hibari's neck where his partially unbuttoned collar exposed it, there was a nice dark bite mark.

"Oh…did I do that?" Tsuna reached out to touch it instinctively and Hibari almost flailed as he stepped back, his blush darkening. "I mean, I didn't mean to…"

"You most certainly meant to," Hibari told him, glaring slightly and completely embarrassed. "You've obviously turned me into some sort of twisted pervert in the future."

"Me?!" Tsuna glared right back at him, just as bright red. "Do you have any idea what you were doing to me, just now? I'm going to need a shower before gym!"

Hibari froze and blinked at him. "You, too?"

Tsuna nodded and they both sighed before slumping against the wall. "This has got to be the strangest day I've had in a while and that's saying a lot."

Hibari nodded his agreement and then looked thoughtfully at him. "You're more interesting in the future."

"Yeah, so I've been told, and we're both apparently giant, raving perverts." Tsuna grumbled.

"Speak for yourself. I'm sure I'm merely active in pursuing what I want." Hibari snagged Tsuna's collar and dragged him down to sit on the roof with him. "I'm tired. We're going to sleep now."

"W-wha…" Tsuna was summarily pushed onto his back and found himself with Hibari's head on his stomach as the other teen lounged back and used him for a pillow.

"You know what happens when you wake me up." With that, Hibari dozed off, ignoring his human pillow.

It was the first time but not the last over the next few weeks as he prepared for his trip and finished his school work that Tsuna found himself acting as Hibari's pillow, amongst other things. By the time the bell rang on the final day before break, he was practically used to being used that way. Still, at least the younger Hibari seemed to share the older one's opinion; Tsuna was more interesting in the future and only fun for light tormenting right now. So at least Tsuna left for Italy still a virgin, if only technically.

* * *

*Title translates to "If you want to be loved, love".


	4. Chapter III: Esse quam videri

**Chapter III: Esse quam videri (Vongola Private Jet / Airborn / Present Day)**

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**A/N:** A quick thank you for all the positive feedback I've received so far. It's always a bit intimidating to put something you're so invested in out there in the world to show other people. It makes me so happy that people are enjoying it.

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Tsuna would never admit it out loud, but his flight to Italy was the first long flight he'd ever taken in his life. He determined very quickly that he didn't just dislike flying; he loathed it with a passion that went unmatched by almost anything else in his life. Even in the crazy luxury of the private Vongola jet Reborn arranged for them, all he could find the strength to do was give thanks they weren't on a commercial flight. It wasn't so much the flying itself as it was the party with which he was traveling. As always, Tsuna's life seemed to resemble one-quarter Mafioso lifestyle, one-quarter teenage emotion and a full half circus insanity.

He'd hoped to make a quiet trip to Venice with Reborn and Hayato, meet with the Ninth and be home in a week or so. Instead, as word got around that he was going, the size of his traveling party continued to grow. Now his party of nine seemed absolutely outrageous. They were noisy, boisterous and far too energetic for his tastes, and in such a small space, absolutely unavoidable. There was, quite literally, nowhere to hide from them that his clever Family couldn't get into with a little effort. He once again cursed Reborn silently for teaching the kids to pick locks over the last school break.

First to be added to their party was Lambo, at the request of the Bovino Family. A sturdy nine years old now, the boy hadn't been home to see his family in ages. Tsuna was thankful Lambo had calmed down a bit with those two years, especially with the addition of school to his regimen. Still, it was impossible to expect a child to go from the insane hyperactivity of Lambo's pre-school years to anything resembling true respectability, even with a few years to work on it. As such, the boy spent most of the long flight talking loudly, badgering people into playing video or board games with him, and practically swinging from the decorative lamps in the private jet.

The truth was that Lambo would have been absolutely unmanageable if they hadn't frisked him twice for weapons before boarding, and if they hadn't brought along Shouichi. Tsuna knew that his Family regularly wondered why Tsuna had approached the redhead one day and simply asked him to join the Family without ever once explaining himself. They'd been even more surprised when Shouichi had nodded in agreement without a second thought. Luckily for both of them, the kids adored Shouichi on sight and he ended up blending right in.

As he planned his next steps in resolving his nightmares, Tsuna had realized that Shouichi's technical knowledge was invaluable. That value was tied to a nagging sensation that the other boy knew exactly why he'd been invited to join the Family, and would work with Tsuna without question. So he'd invited the other boy along for the trip.

Bringing Shouichi into the Family had soothed an entire subset of nightmares for Tsuna, releasing something tight and horrible inside him. The decision to take him to Italy eased a couple more, as well. Luckily for all of them, Lambo was the first to have taken a great liking to Shouichi at some point, and so at least there were a few lulls in the flight where Lambo settled down in response to an invitation to play a video or board game for a while from Shouichi. That he cheerfully included whomever else wanted to play was just another sign of his good nature.

Of course, wherever Shouichi went these days, his blond friend followed. Tsuna couldn't bring himself to mind because Spanner was also part of the Family, seeing as how the two teens were practically inseparable. He'd already had a private discussion with both of them about what he might be needing from them in the near future, and all three knew that the two boys would be staying behind in Italy with Giannini and his father for a few extra weeks to complete things.

The other additions to their travel party were a bit more unusual and unexpected, in Tsuna's mind. He'd woken well after midnight just three nights before departing Japan to the incessant ringing of his cell phone. The number on his caller ID was unfamiliar, but that prick of instinct forced him to answer the phone, only to hear an eerily familiar voice on the other end.

"I never knew you had this degree of ruthlessness in you, Vongola Decimo." Tsuna had blinked in surprise, both at the words and the dark voice, before sighing and flopping back down onto the bed. It figured that even in his own head, someone would be listening in.

"There are a lot of things about me that you would be surprised by, Mukuro," Tsuna replied, rubbing his eyes sleepily and holding back a yawn. "You haven't set eyes on me yourself in ages, after all. Rumor has it that you've been too busy powering up those creepy bodyguards of Chrome's to visit properly."

"Does that mean you've missed me, Tsunayoshi-chan?" Mukuro teased, chuckling under his breath in that way that always made Tsuna want to look behind him, just in case. He really did think Mukuro had a personal list of things that freaked Tsuna right the hell out and used them mercilessly and with great joy.

"In the way that one misses puberty when it's over, if that's what you mean." Tsuna couldn't hold back the yawn that was overwhelming him. "Sorry. It's late here, you know."

"I do know. You should be more careful about closing your curtains at night. Who knows what people might see, Tsunayoshi-chan." Now that, Tsuna thought, was just too twisted for late night conversation. Apparently Mukuro agreed, because he changed subjects quickly. "I've arranged for Chrome to travel with you. You'll require her assistance before you return home to Japan again."

Tsuna didn't even have the energy to argue with him about it. "Does she have what she needs to travel? I can ask Kyoko-chan or Haru to take her shopping, if she needs to go. Make sure she knows that she's supposed to eat regular meals, too. Every time I turn around, she's neglecting herself."

"It's all been taken care of. Have a pleasant flight, Tsunayoshi-chan. I'll see you in Italy, if not sooner." The click that came next told him Mukuro had hung up, and Tsuna slid his phone back onto the desk and curled back up under his blankets, wondering how the hell Mukuro had figured out so much of what Tsuna had planned already. It was eerie how closely Mukuro watched Tsuna. Next to Reborn and Hayato, Mukuro seemed to be the most in tune with him, these days.

In the end, Chrome was joined by Futa and Bianchi, as well. The Ninth had asked for some of Futa's time to review some statistics he wanted updated, and Bianchi absolutely refused to let Reborn travel without her. Tsuna wasn't sure why Bianchi's presence on the flight irked him so much, but it did.

Maybe it had been the way she clung to Reborn to the point where Tsuna couldn't even have a conversation with his mentor, or maybe it was the way it seemed like she actually enjoyed tormenting Hayato by making him sick. Either way, it left him grumpy and out of sorts for the first few hours of the flight, at which point he wedged headphones over his ears, a blanket over his head and reclined his seat fully, deciding to take sleep over sorting out his own mood.

He would have enjoyed his nap more if a familiar figure hadn't been waiting for him in his dreams, chuckling and leaning on a trident Tsuna knew enough about to fear properly. He grumbled, pissed that he'd have to be on guard even in his dreams, but in the end the two had settled down to discuss a few pertinent points. Tsuna hadn't realized Mukuro could see so much of what Tsuna had been dreaming until they started to talk, and from that point he'd decided to make good use of his Mist Guardian's brilliant tactical mind.

When he woke, a couple of hours out from their destination, Tsuna found himself half-covered in children. Lambo had obviously claimed his lap and was sprawled over him with that boneless flop only children could master, and Futa had claimed his shoulder and arm as a pillow. Both were drooling on him. Blinking blearily, Tsuna couldn't even move enough to rub his eyes. Glancing around the cabin he realized almost everyone had drifted off to sleep, finally. Reborn was awake, however, petting Leon in the seat directly across from, and facing, Tsuna.

"It's a good thing I didn't take advantage of that last round of beverage service," Tsuna muttered to his tutor, trying to wriggle free without waking the two boys. "There's no way I'd make it to the bathroom in time."

"It's a sign of how much they trust you, Tsuna," Reborn told him. "Futa, who has always been considered a prized possession by leaders in the mafia, rather than a person, and Lambo, who is the weakest of the weak right now. They sought you out to protect them while they slept, even though you were already asleep yourself."

"I know," Tsuna replied, finally freeing one arm enough to adjust both boys to a more comfortable position. "I won't let anything happen to them."

"They know that, instinctively," Reborn yawned slightly and settled back into his seat, obviously willing to sleep now that someone else was awake to watch over the Family. "That's why they can sleep like that."

Tsuna watched Reborn drift off to sleep before adjusting Futa back into his own seat, propping him on a pillow. Lifting Lambo, Tsuna stood and then settled Lambo back into the seat. Fetching another pillow for Lambo, he then covered both boys with a blanket each, to keep them warm. He'd never admit it out loud to anyone but he also paused to stroke each of their heads and drop a kiss on each forehead.

Next, Tsuna snagged another blanket and tucked Reborn in as well. When he was younger, moving that close to Reborn, or touching him in his sleep, would have earned him a beating. Now, however, Reborn simply rolled into the blanket as if it had been his idea all along, without a hitch in his breathing.

"I want all of you to be able to sleep like that, Reborn," Tsuna whispered. "Not just the kids."

With everyone tucked in and asleep, Tsuna brushed himself off and made that trip to the bathroom he hadn't been certain he'd be able to manage without waking the kids. His eyes caught the gleam of light from Shouichi's laptop and the casual wave from Spanner on the way. Nodding to them, he made his stop in the bathroom, washed his face and brushed his teeth, and then made his way back to join them. They might as well make use of the quiet time they had, to finish the specifications the two teens had been working on for weeks now.

He told himself he didn't regret that the two had to break up what was obviously a more intimate cuddle to make room for him. It helped that both pressed against him instead, one on each side, each wrapping an arm around his waist. There were some real benefits to his Family, he reminded himself as the buckled down to do some work. The fact that they could all touch so casually now, in such reassuring ways, was something that Tsuna very much appreciated on days like this.

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*Title translates to "To be, rather than to seem".


	5. Chapter IV: Concordia salus

**Chapter IV: Concordia salus (Vongola Compound / Venice, Italy / Present Day)**

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Tsuna had always held a special place in his heart for Timoteo, Vongola Nono, ever since the day he'd ripped the old man out of a battle robot that had been feeding on his power. Knowing what the Ninth had gone through with his son Xanxus and the sheer compassion and love the older man held within him, it was impossible for Tsuna to not love him. He had to admit to himself, as he was ushered into the Ninth's private office, that this was a visit he would have been making soon, no matter the circumstances, if only to verify for himself that the old man was all right.

Having received strenuous and brutal protocol lessons from Reborn before the trip, Tsuna had managed not to embarrass himself while kneeling and kissing the Ninth's ring in a gesture of obedience. Some part of him found it funny that it was Tsuna who wore the Sky ring now, but he was still so willing to obey the man in front of him. He guessed it had something to do with that elusive thing that made people either Family, or not. His love and respect for their current boss ran deep and his loyalty was without doubt.

He'd listened half-heartedly as Reborn handled most of the polite greeting portion of business, speaking where he was supposed to, keeping quiet while he should, until finally the whole mess was done. Then he'd looked up and focused on the Ninth, trying to convey clearly his need to speak with the older man alone. There was so much to discuss and so much to be done, and none of it could ever find its way back to Reborn's vigilant ears, not until everything was complete. Thankfully Tsuna's blood didn't fail him and he saw acceptance and awareness in those eyes.

"If we're done here with all the introductions," the Ninth said, his voice showing his age, but still strong with his will, "I'd like to spend some quiet time alone with Tsunayoshi. I don't think we've had any quiet time together since he was four or so, and I have so much to share with him while he's here."

To many in the room it might have seemed like the indulgent wish of an old man, but it was effective. Before long, Tsuna and the Ninth were secluded away in Timoteo's office, doors and windows locked, and able to talk privately. Tsuna sank into one of the leather chairs framing the fireplace in the office with a huge sigh of relief as the Ninth took the other chair.

"Thank goodness. I wasn't sure all of this would work, or that we'd be left alone together for long enough to discuss this." Tsuna could feel the muscles in his shoulders and neck loosening with every passing second. "I can't thank you enough, sir, for allowing me to come and meet with you."

"Now, now, Tsunayoshi," the Ninth waved a cheerful hand in his direction. "Call me Grandfather like a good boy. Iemistu has been like a son to me, himself. I've always somewhat regretted that I had to keep my distance so that you could grow up peacefully."

Tsuna blushed but then nodded. This was something he could do cheerfully for the older man, and enjoy it himself as well. It wasn't as if he'd grown up with a lot of extended family, after all. His Family appeared when he was almost a teenager. "Grandfather, then."

"Now why don't you start at the beginning, my boy, and tell me what's bothering you so much." Timoteo leaned back in his armchair, ready to listen.

It took hours for Tsuna to tell him everything that he knew. He confessed the dreams, the nightmares and the cold, clenched certainty eating away at him that if he didn't move, move now, and in many places, his most important people would be hurt, or even lost. He told Timoteo everything down to the last detail he could dredge from his conscious and subconscious mind. They had to stop twice to order in a coffee tray from the staff.

"It sounds so insane, Grandfather, but I know deep in my soul that I need to move now. I need to act, to protect our Family. I can't sit back and hope that whatever this is will sort itself out in the end. I've already changed things I hadn't expected. Bringing Shouichi and Spanner into the Family was something I never would have considered in the past, but the moment I really saw them, I knew it needed to happen. And now, now it's this next step." Tsuna was shaking, he realized, not with fear or anxiety, but with relief over having someone to discuss this with who would listen and understand. "I know that if I don't take action, I'll even lose you, too early and before I am ready to take on the responsibility you're leaving me."

"Then we'll make our moves, Tsunayoshi, and we'll keep our Family safe." Timoteo was amazing, Tsuna realized. He'd heard it all, taken it in, and even Tsuna's young eyes could see that enormous mind at work, the same intuition Tsuna had, with decades of experience behind it. "We'll create a plan and save everyone we can."

"Reborn can't know about this, Grandfather." Tsuna looked at him with desperate eyes. "If he knew that I was making these choices to protect him first, he'd be so angry with me. But Reborn is too important to me to lose."

"You value his skills that much?" Timoteo asked, his keen eyes watching every movement of Tsuna's body. "He is, and has long been, one of the strongest and most talented among us."

"It has nothing to do with Reborn being a hitman," Tsuna replied, slumping back into his chair. "If I am the Sky of our Family, Reborn is the earth, the wind and the water. He's raised all of us so carefully and watched over us so well. If he was gone, we would survive, but we would never be the same. We would change because I, as the Sky, could never be as strong as I will be with him to help me question myself."

"And yet you're choosing to leave him out of this plan and hide it from him? It seems counterintuitive to me." Tsuna could see his grandfather's confusion, and he smiled reassuringly at him.

"If there's one thing I know about Reborn, it's that he doesn't want me to see the dark side of this lifestyle yet. He wants me to be strong, and to love our Family with everything I am, and to protect everyone. But he carefully avoids anything that would force me to make a decision that would trouble me ethically. Even with Rokudo Mukuro, he had the decision of what to do with him taken from my hands by tipping off the Vendicare." Tsuna shook his head in bemusement at the memory. "So I can't let him know that I've already gone this far, just to protect him. He'd never allow it."

Timoteo nodded in understanding. "If that's the case then, I'll make the necessary arrangements here to handle things in Italy. You know, however, that your target is going to be hard to acquire, and harder to hold."

"Yes. Once the holding facility is finished, and Spanner and Shouichi are ready to return to Japan, I'll make the arrangements myself for the capture. It would be wrong to ask you to make this request of your son in my name. It could cause conflict again within the Family, and we need to stand united. If I can't convince him to do this for me, then I have no right to ask it of him." Tsuna sighed softly, already feeling the stress of what was to come.

"You've grown up well, Tsunayoshi," Timoteo nodded his approval. "So then we'll move to the highest priority item on your list besides that. Are you sure this is a wise idea? You'll be opening yourself up to a great deal of risk and potential pain."

"I know, but it's the right thing to do. I should have done it earlier, but I was just recently convinced that it could be done safely and now I have all the reasons in the world to do it." Tsuna stood and straightened out his new suit, the one Reborn insisted on arranging for him before they'd even left Japan. "I'll break the news of this particular task to Reborn myself. There's no way he's going to allow me out of his sight long enough to do this."

"He'll be angry with you," Timoteo stood as well and patted Tsuna on the shoulder affectionately. "That's another part of being the boss, you'll learn. Having to make the people who protect you angry with you, so that you can accomplish what you need to, whether they like it or not. Even at my age, I get yelled at quite a lot."

"If your friends are anything like mine, then I can imagine. I get yelled at for forgetting my lunch, some days. Luckily enough for Reborn, apparently the curve of my head was made for his foot, or so he says. I'm sure he'll express his feelings about it clearly when the time comes. If I show up for dinner with a black eye, you'll know why." Tsuna chuckled softly and bid the Ninth a good afternoon before leaving his office.

Making his way down the hall and turning right, the direction he was pretty sure their guest rooms were located, Tsuna practically tripped over Reborn, who was skulking in the shadows waiting for him. A loud yelp, a kick, and a crashing to the floor followed that could be heard around the castle. It took a moment before Tsuna was up again and swearing, rubbing his knee and the back of his head at the same time.

"Dammit, Reborn! Was that really necessary?" He scowled down at his tutor fiercely. "That really hurt!"

"Be happy you're getting away with just that," Reborn lectured, eyes gleaming with an evil, dark light. "If we were home, you'd really be hurting."

"Ahh, I'm sure that's true," Tsuna muttered under his breath. "But we don't have time for you to beat me up this afternoon. We have an errand to run before dinner."

Reborn looked up curiously at that. "An errand? What sort of errand?"

"We're going to pick up one of my Guardians," Tsuna replied, straightening his clothes out once again.

"Tsuna, I realize you can be slow, but your other Guardians are in Japan," Reborn told him, shaking his head almost as if in shame or embarrassment at his student's lack of thought.

"Most of them are. It's been a while, however, since I've seen this one in person. It's time to correct that and put him to work properly." Reborn's eyes narrowed sharply at that.

"No." Tsuna watched warily as Leon transformed into the familiar and very dangerous handgun. "Haven't I told you over and over again, Tsuna? Never forget what he did to you, and who he hurt along the way. He is where he belongs, and he will stay there until he dies. This foolish compassion of yours will get you killed if you're not careful. You're still too soft."

Tsuna knelt, bringing himself down until their eyes met properly. He understood Reborn's concerns, but his conversation with the future Hibari had reassured Tsuna that he'd made the right choice in deciding to do this. "By the end of the day, Reborn, Rokudo Mukuro will be a free man. He will spend the next few weeks here in Venice recovering from his imprisonment while loaning his strength to Grandfather to prove his allegiance, or at least his obedience, to the Family. By the end of the summer break, he should be ready to join us in Japan. This is what has been decided between Grandfather and myself, and there cannot and will not be any further discussion on the subject."

He expected anger, a blow, anything but the look that Reborn gave him from under the brim of his hat. A look filled with frustration and worry; and beneath all of that something that resembled pride in his student. Once again, Tsuna saw the expression Reborn seemed to come up with at the most random times, where Tsuna was sure his tutor would be disappointed in his choices and instead Reborn would calmly step back and let Tsuna have his way. That didn't mean, however, that Tsuna wouldn't be in a world of hurt later for this.

"If it makes you feel any better, Reborn, I'm planning on letting Hibari work Mukuro back into fighting trim in his own body." Tsuna made the only peace offering he could.

Reborn paused and considered that thoughtfully for a moment. "Only if I get to videotape it."

"It's a deal." They shook on it before heading off to find Hayato and Chrome before heading out to complete their errand.

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*Title translates to "Salvation through harmony".


	6. Chapter V: Luceat lux vestra

**Chapter V: Luceat lux vestra (Vendicare Prison / Venice, Italy / Present Day)**

It was a horrifying image, Tsuna realized, as he stared at the floating body of his Mist Guardian, imprisoned by the Vendicare for over three years now. He'd seen flashes of it over the years when their minds drifted close to each other, but the reality was so much worse. Mukuro floated in viscous liquid, one eye sealed electronically with a wicked looking device, the other taped shut. The breathing mask strapped to his face made Tsuna queasy to look at. As if all of that weren't enough, they'd bound Mukuro's hands behind him with chains and secured his legs as well. It turned Tsuna's stomach to see, and his body shook with anger.

"Release him now," Tsuna ordered, eyes flashing. "Release him or I'll tear this place down around your ears myself. Rokudo Mukuro is Vongola, and I need him, and that will always outweigh any crime you choose to punish him for." He didn't care that the Ninth had negotiated the release, he just wanted Mukuro out of there, and now.

Tsuna could feel the hints of flame flashing and sparking around his body as his temper soared. He hadn't lost control like this since he was young and new to the Dying Will flames that were his heritage. This however, this was inhumane and disgraceful. It embodied everything he hated about the mafia, with none of the comforts that having a Family offered.

He watched the tank drain, Mukuro's body settling to the floor of it as the liquid flushed away. As the guards took their time, Tsuna's temper finally snapped and his fist flamed briefly as it shattered the glass surface of the tank with one solid blow, just enough to weaken it without showering Mukuro with shards. His second strike blew the glass sideways and away from both of them, clearing his way to the emaciated, atrophied body before him.

There was a whirl and click and the hardware detached itself from Mukuro's face and head, freeing him. Tsuna finished the job by ripping the chains holding Mukuro's wrists and legs apart, the flame in his palm making short work of them. He held Mukuro up as his body shook with the change in environment.

Much to his surprise, as he'd rushed forward to help Mukuro as the tank fell apart it wasn't Chrome at Tsuna's side, but Hayato. They each took a side to lift him up and over the shards of glass remaining and carried him over to lay him carefully on the floor on a waiting blanket. Hayato frowned at the slimy-slick feel of the liquid that still covered Mukuro, wiping his hands off on his pants. Tsuna ignored the mess and gestured for a medic to come over and finish the process by examining Mukuro, removing the remaining implants and freeing his eyes.

Chrome stepped forward then, and using towels she started wiping Mukuro's body clean of the liquid. It didn't take long for Tsuna and Hayato to join her, cleaning him carefully but efficiently. Within minutes they had him tucked under heated blankets on a hospital gurney, a pillow under his head, ready to be transported. Tsuna looked him over carefully, making sure no sign of the Vendicare imprisonment remained before nodding his approval.

"I hope you can hear me, Mukuro. You look like hell, but I know how stubborn you are. I'm giving you your freedom, against the wishes of pretty much everyone around me, especially the ones I'm supposed to listen to the most. So listen carefully. Family is Family, and I made a promise to protect mine, no matter what. You chose to accept that ring and to serve as my Guardian. I will hold you to that promise to your dying day." Having spoken his mind, Tsuna leaned back against the wall, finally relaxing somewhat.

A low chuckle, raspy in a voice weak from lack of use, filled the corridor. "How can you be so sure I'm not a danger to you, Vongola Decimo?"

"Because you have your own family as well, Mukuro. Chrome, Chikusa, Ken, all three of them rely on you to guide them and keep them safe." Tsuna gave up his wall and moved close to Mukuro again, leaning in to whisper into his ear. "And because I have seen what will happen if I don't have you at my back when I need you. I know how dangerous it is to leave you so weak. As long as you offer up your strength to me and to my Family, I will protect you and provide for you and yours."

Without even realizing it, Tsuna's hand had moved to Mukuro's forehead, slowly pushing damp and sticky locks of hair off of his face, carefully moving them away from his eyes. He started slightly when those eyes opened slowly and focused on him, the blue as deep and clear as it had always been, and the red burning with some sort of inner fire. Tsuna didn't retreat, however. He simply continued his task gently.

"You have an unnatural power, Tsunayoshi-chan. It pisses me off and intrigues me, all at the same time." The eyes slipped half-closed in obvious exhaustion. "I suppose I can heel on your leash long enough to figure out what, exactly the source of that power is, so that I can steal it away from you."

Tsuna had to laugh at that, as it was so similar to the threats he'd heard for the past several years. "You do that, Rokudo Mukuro. I have a puzzle to solve that I can't figure out on my own. I need your help. Lend me your strength, and I will lend you mine."

"Very well," Mukuro's voice started to fade again. "If only to keep you people from bullying my dear Chrome so much."

Glancing over at Chrome, Tsuna had to smile. Maybe when they were barely teens, Chrome had been weak enough to be bullied. A few years of strong friendships, trust and new experiences had changed her beyond belief. She smiled sweetly back at him, blushing lightly.

"Thank you, Boss." Her voice was as soft and quiet as always. "I'm so happy that I could be here to see this."

"I think you should explain to him, when he's on his feet again, just how strong you are." Tsuna shook his head ruefully. "And then you can tell him that he gets to spend the end of his recovery period with Hibari. I'm sure that will amuse him."

"He does have an almost unnatural interest in that guy," she commented, moving closer to the gurney. "I'm happy to see him free, Boss, but…" she paused, looking at the floor, "am I so weak that I couldn't have helped you with this myself? You almost never ask me for help. I am your Guardian, too."

"Not at all," Tsuna caught her hand with his own and squeezed lightly to reassure her. "I know how strong you are, Chrome. But this puzzle deals with people who are brutal, and I will not risk losing you to people like that. Mukuro will agree with me, when the time comes. You are one of our precious people, and I will always keep you safe and by my side, for as long as I live."

Tsuna kissed her cheek and left Chrome blushing next to Mukuro, gesturing for the people around them to get moving and transport his Guardian back to the Vongola estates for proper treatment. It had been a long day already between the flight to Italy, the protocol of meeting with the Ninth, the private discussion by the fire and now this. He was ready for dinner and sleep, and not necessarily in that order.

Reborn joined him on his way to the car and hopped into the back with him, taking up the majority of the seat, while Hayato slipped into the front with the driver. Quiet ruled in the car for the first few minutes as they returned to the estates, and then Hayato turned to look over his shoulder at them, smirking.

"I hope I never look as fucked up as he does right now," he commented cheerfully. "Lambo could kick his ass and make him his bitch, and we all know what a big pussy Lambo is."

The first snicker came from Reborn and was followed by one from Tsuna, who tried hard to hold it in. It was disrespectful, after all, and Mukuro was scary as hell when he was really riled. Still, while picturing the thin body, delicate face and long hair, his brain added a dress and that was all it took.

A few seconds later, Tsuna slipped sideways on the seat, laughing so hard he was wheezing. He couldn't even complain when Reborn forcefully relocated him back to his side of the vehicle with a solid kick, because they were all laughing together for the first time since Tsuna had made the decision to come to Italy. He could feel the tension lifting from him in the face of his happiness at seeing two of his most precious people laughing and smiling.

Without thinking, he reached out and adjusted the brim of Reborn's hat and gave Leon an affectionate rub on the head. Reborn gave him a strange look but accepted the affection for now without question, settling back into his seat. Tsuna knew he hadn't heard the last about all of this from Reborn, but for now he chose to ignore what might come, just for this small time, and enjoy the time he had with them.

*Title translates to "Let your light shine".


	7. Chapter VI: Semper reformanda

**Chapter VI: Semper reformanda (Vongola Estate / Venice, Italy / Present Day)**

Tsuna woke screaming and panting, hands clenching in the sheets of a strange bed in a strange room he couldn't recognize. His whole body shook as he fought his own mind for control long enough to figure out where he was. It took a few long, deep breaths before he recognized his guest suite in Venice. That started a small chain reaction of realizations that slowly allowed him to calm down, his breathing slowed and the shaking eventually stopped.

It was helpful, actually, that the rooms were so different from what he was used to at home. The shift in location forced him to think faster, identify threats and focus his mind. He had to admit as well that the fireplace and sitting area, the enormous attached bathroom and the gorgeous windows weren't bad either. He could do without the bed he practically had to climb into, but he was sure he could get used to that as well.

Glancing over at the clock, he shook his head ruefully. He'd only managed to sleep through until two in the morning and here he was, wide awake. It usually wasn't this bad, but he decided that the strange environment and the lack of Reborn in his room with him had contributed to the terror of the nightmares. He rarely slept anywhere near well anymore without Reborn nearby. Not out of fear, but for lack of some sort of subconscious comfort he took from the other's presence.

Knowing that sleep wouldn't come again anytime soon for him, Tsuna struggled his way out of the huge bed and scrounged for comfortable clothes instead. Pulling on jeans and a t-shirt, he ran a hand through his hair and wandered out into the hallway in search of the kitchen. Dinner had been ages ago in teenager time and if he couldn't sleep, at least he could indulge in his second favorite pastime and eat something.

He made two stops along the way, the first at Lambo's room. Slipping into the smaller room near his own, Tsuna checked on the boy, making sure he was warm enough. The truth was, it was more to reassure himself than Lambo, but it was a routine for nights like this. Check on the most vulnerable of his Family and remind himself of what he held so dear, and remember that he would do anything to protect them. Tucking Lambo in a bit more snugly, Tsuna headed for his next stop.

Futa was asleep as well, although he'd fallen asleep while reading. Chuckling softly, Tsuna settled the boy fully into his bed and tucked him in, running a gentle hand over Futa's forehead and through his hair. Middle school was doing wonders for Futa and he was growing in so many different ways now. It was something that brought a lot of pleasure to the Sawada household overall.

"Tsuna-nii…" Futa muttered in his sleep, snuggling more deeply into the bed.

"Sweet dreams, Futa," Tsuna murmured to him, switching off the lamp by the bed. "We'll have a lot of fun tomorrow, to make up for today."

Slipping out again, he continued his trek to the kitchens. It was odd, seeing armed guards here and there in the hallways as he walked. A stark reminder, he supposed, of the risks of the position he was being groomed for. After all, out of five prospective heirs, only he and Xanxus were still alive. Shaking his head, he finally found himself victorious as he located the kitchen.

Tsuna was waist-deep in the enormous refrigerator when he heard the door to the kitchen swing open behind him. Debating between leaving his back to someone who might actually kill him and finishing the rummaging which was almost complete, he chose food over safety and finally emerged triumphant with leftover chicken and cheese. Turning around to carry it over to the table in the center of the room, he blinked in surprise at the newcomer sitting at one of the chairs there.

"For fuck's sake, you shrimp. You're gonna get your ass kicked and then raped and dumped in some field, some day. Are you that ready to die just as you grow out of the girly stage of your life?" Boots landed with a thump on the table as the occupant of the chair threw his feet up onto it.

Tsuna blinked slowly at Xanxus and then groaned. "Why am I always the bitch in conversations like this? Do I really have a body that screams 'hey pedophiles, rape me'? Really?"

Xanxus blinked right back at him and then snorted. "Screams it, begs for it, gets down on its knees and asks for it. Maybe they should start giving you testosterone injections. You should at least learn how to cover your own ass."

"Why does every conversation I have late at night these days begin and end with my ass?" Tsuna flopped into another chair and shoved the chicken and cheese to the middle of the table so that he could bang his forehead against the marble surface. The laughing coming from Xanxus' side of the table didn't help any.

"Let me worry about Tsuna's ass, Xanxus." Tsuna and Xanxus both blinked in surprise as Reborn appeared on a nearby counter. "You worry about your own. He's not the only one around here who's girlishly slim."

"The hell?!" Tsuna grumbled and ignored Xanxus, who flung a kitchen utensil lazily at Reborn, deciding instead to attack his late night snack. "Both of you stop thinking about my ass. I feel so dirty now." He dedicated himself with true devotion to his food. Fear was one thing, starvation was another. He was a growing boy, after all. If Xanxus wanted to hurt him, he'd have locked him in the fridge or something equally nasty.

"Your girlish figure is nothing to be ashamed of, Tsuna," Reborn stated, reappearing far too close to Tsuna's food for his comfort. "I'm sure potential suitors everywhere will admire it." Tsuna grumbled and lashed out with his fork with instincts that were years in the making, defending his snack against theft by his tutor.

"What are you, a pimp now?" Tsuna replied, hugging his plate to his chest protectively, arm wrapped snugly around the ceramic. "You need a different suit for that, maybe something in a pinstripe."

Xanxus snorted across the table and stood, moving to rummage through one of the cupboards. He emerged victorious with a dark bottle that had been hidden behind a number of other things. "You're both too damned noisy. Shut the hell up."

"Locked out of the liquor cabinets again, Xanxus?" Reborn asked, dodging the pan Xanxus flung at him ruthlessly.

Tsuna wasn't so lucky, however, having refocused on his food, and he took the pan to the side of his head with a resounding gong. Stunned for a moment, he fell, face first into his plate, snorting chicken and cheese before wheezing and coughing. Pleased with this result, Xanxus headed for the door, laughing.

"There isn't a liquor cabinet I can't get into. My lazy ass grunts forgot to restock and that bitch Squalo ran off before I could make him fetch for me." With that, Xanxus was gone.

"The only reason I can handle that asshole right now," Tsuna grumbled, wiping his face off with a napkin, "is that he's a lot less of an asshole in the future. Not that it's a great improvement, but at least there's less talk about my ass, I think."

"What?" Reborn blinked at Tsuna as if he'd lost his mind. Tsuna straightened in shock, his eyes wide for a moment. He hadn't meant to say that out loud. He could almost see the little cogs whirring in Reborn's head.

"At least I can hope so, anyway," Tsuna said, covering his slip as best he could. "I mean, he's better now than he used to be, right?"

"Well, that's true." Reborn successfully snagged the rest of Tsuna's food, leaving the plate empty in a flash. "Why aren't you in bed, no-good Tsuna? It's late."

"Me? What about you, Reborn? Where have you been? It's weird waking up without you in the same room." Tsuna glared at his empty plate and sighed, swiping a banana from the bowl of fruit on the table to compensate for his loss.

"Can't sleep without me, Tsuna?" Reborn teased, smirking slightly. "Should we take a bath together like men, to reassure you?"

"I worry when you're gone too much. It usually means a whole world of pain for me later on." Tsuna had lists of examples to back up that statement. "But honestly I thought maybe Bianchi had stolen you away for the night. I had horrifying visions of you smothering in her possessive bosom."

"I had some things to follow up on," Reborn replied, wiping his face with Tsuna's napkin. "I'm done now."

"I see." Tsuna shrugged and cleaned up their mess. "Let's get some sleep, then." He offered his shoulder to Reborn, relaxing somewhat as the familiar weight settled in. Carrying Reborn back to what was apparently their room now, Tsuna paused when Reborn hopped off his shoulder and promptly claimed half the enormous bed for himself.

"Reborn," he started slowly, turning away to strip down to his boxers, "maybe it's a little bit true. It's hard to sleep without you there." Turning back, he shook his head in amusement. The only answer to his confession was Reborn, dead asleep, hogging all the pillows. "Except when you do things like that."

Giving in, he curled back up in the bed and prayed that he'd sleep through the rest of the night peacefully.

*Title translates to "always in need of being reformed".


	8. Chapter VII: Operibus anteire

**Chapter VII: Operibus anteire (Vongola Estate / Venice, Italy / Present Day)**

* * *

Awareness came the following morning when some masochistic beast flung the curtains back on the windows in Tsuna's room, filling it with warm morning sunlight. His first attempt at ignoring it and getting more sleep was to bundle himself up in covers and bury his head under the pillow. That worked well, right up until the kids poured into his room and scaled the bed to join him.

"Tsuna-nii!" Lambo sprawled himself over Tsuna happily, his curly hair flying everywhere around his head in a great, tangled poof. "Tsuna-nii, take us out to play today!" It was clear that the youngest amongst them had suffered somewhat by being kept inside and forced to obey protocol for so long.

"Please, Tsuna-nii?" Futa added the absolutely irresistible cute face that had won Tsuna over to Futa's side so many years ago now. "We want to go sight-seeing and eat Italian food and take lots of pictures for Mama to see when we go home again. And we have to buy souvenirs for everyone, too!"

Tsuna had to chuckle at their enthusiasm and let them squirm over and around him until they finally settled down. "All right, I think we can do that today. First, however, we need to get the two of you sorted out properly." He looked them over carefully.

"Futa, you go change into comfortable clothes. Jeans and t-shirts, and don't forget your tennis shoes. I don't want your nice clothes getting messed up while we're out." Futa nodded eagerly and dashed back to his room to get dressed while Tsuna moved on to Lambo.

"Lambo," Tsuna started, hands running through those thick, black curls that covered the boy's head. "You need to start learning to brush your own hair or we're going to have to get it cut. Otherwise it's going to tangle up completely and you'll look like someone spilled glue all over your head." Reaching over to his nightstand, Tsuna managed to snag his own hairbrush and with some quick maneuvering he settled Lambo between his legs facing out, so that he could brush that mop of hair. "Sometimes I'm not sure how you can even see around all of this."

"Mama always uses pins to put it back so it's not in my face," Lambo told him, holding out a small packet of them proudly. "It's Tsuna-nii's job to make sure I look pretty for everyone here. Mama said so, and so did Haru-chan."

"Ah, is that so? Well I know better than to argue with the two of them," Tsuna teased gently. He'd never admit it out loud, but there was something soothing about brushing Lambo's hair and getting it all straightened up. He finished it off with a few groupings of carefully placed hairpins. "There you go. Now brush your teeth, wash your face, and put on one of the jeans and t-shirt outfits Mama bought you to wear to go see your Family. We can stop by while we're out seeing the sights. And don't forget your ring. That's very important. If you have it hanging around your neck, then your Family will see how important you are to the Vongola."

Lambo cheered his agreement and flew off to finish getting ready without a single look back. Sighing softly, Tsuna stretched lazily and reached over to switch off the alarm clock that hadn't even had a chance to ring in the face of the two boys and their enthusiasm. Glancing over, he saw that Reborn was awake and sipping what looked suspiciously like a very expensive cappuccino while reading the paper.

"We should do something about your hair too, Reborn," Tsuna teased. "It's been getting long on the top lately. With the hat and Leon's random wanderings through it all the time, it might be time for a good trim to get you back in shape."

He'd meant it to tease, but ended up with a lap full of Arcobaleno, hat off, drinking his cappuccino and reading. "Fine, Tsuna. I'll let you groom me today if it will make you feel special. Don't get too familiar, though. I'm still perfectly willing to shoot you."

Tsuna brushed the peaks of dark hair slowly, working out any snarls with gentle fingers. Sweeping it up into its normal peaks, he declared his work done. "There. I still think you could use a trim, but I don't have any scissors here. I think you'd be upset if I tried to singe it down to the right length."

"I can have Bianchi do it for me later," Reborn replied absentmindedly.

"No, I'll do it." Tsuna wasn't sure what made him so possessive over these sorts of things lately, but the thought of Bianchi taking his idea and using it to try to get close to his Reborn really irked him. "I'll have someone dig up a pair of scissors later and take care of it for you." He missed the small smirk Reborn hid with his mug of coffee.

"If that's how you want it," Reborn nodded in agreement. "Do a good job or I'll have you running laps around Venice for the rest of the week to toughen you up."

"Yes, Reborn," Tsuna shook his head in amusement. "Oh, speaking of Bianchi. I have a job for her this week, if you think she'd be interested in it. Nothing too dangerous, but it pays well."

"A job for Bianchi? There's someone you want to kill?" Reborn gave him a sharper look, the fun of the morning set aside in the face of the more adult conversation.

"No! Nothing like that." Tsuna flailed slightly. "I've finally had some luck in talking Lancia-san into considering joining Vongola now that his pilgrimage of regret seems to be complete. He'll be in town tomorrow and I thought having someone as smart and experienced as Bianchi here to give him a tour of the place and encourage him to settle in would be helpful. After all, a beautiful woman is a great tool when luring a lonely man into a business agreement."

"We'll ask her at breakfast, then. Lancia would be a strong addition to the Family here in Italy, if he didn't want to return with us to Japan. I doubt he'll be comfortable around Rokudo Mukuro. Bianchi can be very persuasive, in non-violent means." Reborn set his hat on his head and stood to pull his jacket on. "It would also give us some down time to discuss the things that have been going on here, without any interruptions."

Tsuna winced slightly, knowing that conversation would be a painful one. He'd be hiding things from and misdirecting the person who was, without question, his best friend and the voice he'd listen to above all others. Reborn was painfully smart and hiding things from him was its own form of hell.

"That works," he agreed reluctantly. "Why don't you head down for breakfast with the others? I've got to shower and get dressed still, and I have to make a few calls to check in on things at home before I come down."

"Don't take too long, or I'll eat all your food," Reborn warned him before jauntily walking out the door.

Tsuna rushed through his shower and had his cell phone out as he was dressing. It would be early to mid-afternoon in Namimori, if he remembered properly. Switching the phone to speaker as it rang, he rummaged for clothing and started dressing as he waited.

"What do you want?" the curt voice on the other end of the line was familiar, and as always it sent a tingle of warning down the back of Tsuna's neck. Even after the past few years and the growing closeness of the past few weeks, Hibari still had the ability to give Tsuna the chills.

"Do you answer the phone that way for everyone, or just me?" Tsuna wondered out loud as he pulled a shirt over his head. "Some part of me hopes it's a special greeting just for me."

"I'm busy, Sawada Tsunayoshi," came the reply, which in no way answered Tsuna's question at all.

"Sorry to interrupt your afternoon nap. I was wondering if you'd be interested in doing something you'd enjoy, what with school out for summer break and all." The trick, Tsuna had learned, for getting Hibari to do things was to choose things for him to do that you know he'd not only enjoy, but actually appreciate.

"Do we need to have the group contact discussion again?" Hibari was definitely in a mood, it seemed. "You're probably still sore from the last time we had it."

"I am, and there are still a few bruises left. Still, I think you'll like this one. At Kokuyo you'll find those two guys again, the ones that are always around Chrome. They need a little polishing in combat before I can send them on their first real mission. Could I get you to chase them around that place for a few days this week to get them in shape?" Being the boss, Tsuna was learning over time, was really about the give and take of getting people to work and keeping them happy at the same time.

"I suppose I could find the time. You'll owe me a favor, of course." Hibari was already on the move, if the background noise was any clue.

"Don't I always owe you a favor?"

"That's how I prefer it." Hibari hung up then, clearly no longer interested in the conversation. Tsuna was sure that he'd be reminded of this the next time he found himself on the school roof alone.

* * *

*Title translates to "Leading the way with deeds".


	9. Chapter VIII: Amor est vitae essentia

**Chapter VIII: Amor est vitae essentia (Vongola Estate / Venice, Italy / Present Day)**

* * *

Tsuna had managed, in the end, to snag a few bites to eat that morning and catch Bianchi with enough time to give her the assignment to meet Lancia and show him around, before he and his Family left the house to start their fun for the day. Catching up with Bianchi was easy enough; he just had to find Reborn in the enormous Family dining room. Wherever he was, she was likely to be nearby or possibly wrapped around him.

Wandering a bit, he had to admit that it was still all a bit weird to him how people nodded to him in respect, some even bowing slightly. Of course, then there were those who clearly would have happily supported Xanxus' claim more than his, and those gave him slightly dark looks or insolent stares. When he was still the boy who'd fought that battle, he would have flinched from them, maybe even been afraid. Now he simply stared back at them, letting his eyes go cold and analytical as he evaluated them. Eventually he would categorize them as something to care about, or not, and dismiss them from his mind coolly, storing the information for later.

Being Tsuna, of course, he had no idea how that shifted the aura of the room as he passed through it. He was just happier that there was more room in which to walk. He'd almost reached the point that the next person who bumped into him rudely was going to hear about it in a way that involved his fist and fire. He simply told himself repeatedly that they were a small faction now, and he could always kill them off later.

It did throw his mood off, however, and he was almost irritated by the time he found his target, spotting Bianchi towards the back. Luckily for his mood, Reborn actually wasn't there with her. He wasn't sure he could have held his tongue in that situation. Making his way over to her, he evicted the guy next to her with a look and gesture of his head. He could hit on her any time he wanted. Tsuna had business to conduct.

"My, Tsuna, you keep growing up more and more every day," Bianchi purred, smiling at him and turning to face him fully as he sat. "You're turning into a proper Boss right before my eyes."

If there was one thing that kept Bianchi in Tsuna's good graces in spite of her Reborn fetish, it was her absent-minded fondness for him and her pride in him as one of his teachers that slipped out every now and then. Between her words and Reborn's absence, Tsuna perked up a bit and grinned at her sheepishly while reaching for the juice. No matter how much he'd grown, it always thrilled him when she acknowledged his growth.

"Does that mean you'll give up the wild freelance assaassin world and come to work for me full time?" He asked, leaning close and flirting slightly. It was always fun to practice his flirting with her, because while she had less than no interest in him in that way, she was always willing to help him adjust his technique. "A woman like you can only make a man stronger."

Her laugh filled the air around them and she flipped her hair back playfully, batting her eyelashes at him. "Oh, Tsuna, you do know how to woo a girl. But could you really handle a woman like me?"

"I'm still a little fuzzy on what to do with a woman in general, much less a woman like you," he admitted, grinning. "I don't suppose my innocence attracts you?"

"Boss!" Hayato groaned from across the table, looking a little green even with the fake glasses Bianchi was wearing. "That's just wrong in so many ways. I draw the line at even pretend sex with my sister."

They all laughed then, and Tsuna relaxed as he started his breakfast. The mental wall that allowed him to ignore the irritating things around him went up around them and he was able to focus on his friends for the moment. As such, he'd missed the nervous looks around them as he'd lured Bianchi and she'd responded so cheerfully. The idea of the Poison Scorpion in Vongola was both appealing and terrifying to many of them, obviously.

"Bianchi," Tsuna started; his mouth half-full as he chewed. "Would you be willing to take on an assignment for me today and tomorrow? It's nothing strenuous but it'd be a huge help for me. I have a lot to cram in while I'm here, and today I've got to take the kids around. I promised."

"An assignment?" Bianchi turned to him, curious now. "What can I do to help, Tsuna?" She'd mostly just come to stay near Reborn, he knew, but if he could make good use of her and possibly help her in his own way, he was going to.

"Lancia-san is flying in at noon today. He's finally agreed to come and speak with Grandfather," Tsuna missed the various looks around them when he referred to the Ninth as his grandfather, "about possibly lending us his strength in the future; either here or in Japan. It would really help to have someone he knows meet him and spend the day with him. He'll need to get settled in here and some company for lunch and possibly dinner." Tsuna looked at her with pleading eyes. "I really want him to feel like part of the Family, and welcome here. Help me?"

Bianchi chuckled a bit. "Ah, yes, that one isn't as vulnerable to some of your charms as your other protectors are." She leaned in conspiratorially. "I think he might actually be the only completely heterosexual man you know anywhere near your age."

"Don't say that! We're all holding firm to the idea that Ryohei doesn't like me that way." Tsuna shivered a bit at the thought. "I can't handle that kind of energy. I just can't. I'm only one man!"

"Turf-head is far more into Chrome and that Hana girl than anything we've got going, boss." Hayato grinned at him, munching his toast cheerfully.

"Good. Someone has to make good little mafia babies." Tsuna turned back to Bianchi with wide eyes of pleading. "Please take care of Lancia-san for me? He's been really lonely."

"Spend my day with a man who's both attractive and polite?" Bianchi smiled at him and nodded. "I can do that for you, Tsuna. You'll be funding it, of course?"

Tsuna sighed and rummaged out his wallet, handing over one of the two credit cards Reborn had arranged for him. "Get whatever you two need, but try not to break me. I still have to buy school uniforms when I get back. Mine are getting too short again."

"You're such a darling, Tsuna," Bianchi took it and hugged him, still smiling.

He hugged her back, his arms tight around her. It hurt, watching her. She gave up so much of herself to stay near Reborn, had been obsessed with him off and on since she was in pre-school. He knew that nothing would come of it in the end, even if she didn't. So it hurt to watch her try and try, and never get anywhere. This meeting was his way of trying to find a different form of happiness for her.

He'd noticed how often Lancia-san asked about Bianchi when he called or emailed. It was always casual, as if dropped in without a second thought. Tsuna was aware enough, however, to realize that the other man probably spent hours trying to figure out how to work her into the conversations. So he would do this much, interfere this much, and hope that somehow the other picked up the lead and ran with it. They both deserved some happiness.

They deserved the same happiness that Bianchi wanted but would never have with Reborn. After all, Reborn belonged to Tsuna. The sooner everyone realized that, the better off things would be. He'd lost Reborn once, and he never would again.

Pleased with the outcome of their discussion, he kissed her cheek and released her, nodding to Hayato. "Let's go find the little terrors and take them to see the city."

* * *

*Title translates to "Love is the essence of life".


	10. Chapter IX: Ex animo

**Chapter IX: Ex animo (Bovino Family Compound / Venice, Italy / Current Day)**

* * *

The first stop of the day was the Bovino Family compound, where Tsuna would finally have the chance to meet Lambo's family. It was exciting, in a way, but some deep down part of his soul was angry that they would send such a young boy so far away and into such a dangerous situation. Right from the beginning, Lambo had seemed like family to Tsuna. Not the Family Reborn taught Tsuna about over the years, but a little brother. Lambo was annoying, loud and boisterous, but he was Tsuna's, and Tsuna loved him just as he was.

Those thoughts running through his head, Tsuna was surprised to find that the Bovino household was very much a large and loud extension of their pint-sized representative. In fact, the head of the Family had much the same look on his face as Tsuna did at the end of most days spent with Lambo, times about a million. He couldn't help but grin at the sight. Still, after the formalities were taken care of, Tsuna didn't think twice about pulling Lambo into his lap as they all sat down to talk, arms wrapping around the boy almost protectively.

"Tsuna-nii…" Lambo grumbled, wriggling a bit in protest. "Can't play like this!"

"Do you want to play here, Lambo?" Tsuna asked, ruffling the boy's hair gently. "You haven't been here in a long time, after all."

"Stupid Tsuna-nii!" Lambo poked him in the cheek and made a face at him. "There's lots to do and cousins to play with." He wriggled his way off of Tsuna's lap and took off in pursuit of several of the other children, cheerfully dragging Futa along behind him.

"I think I'm even happier we frisked him twice, boss," Hayato said, leaning back in his own chair and sighing. "If we hadn't, there wouldn't be a fucking wall left in this place by the time he was done. Stupid cow."

"Hayato," Tsuna frowned at him lightly. "It took me most of last two years to get him out of those clothes and into something remotely normal so we could send him to school. Don't encourage him to start up with that again. It's bad enough that he takes those horns and that bazooka with him everywhere, still. He nailed Hibari with it again the other day."

The laugh from the Bovino boss caught both of their attention and they glanced over at him curiously. "Lambo's always been one of our most energetic children. It was hard on him here when he was little. He wanted so much for everyone to acknowledge him, and his worth."

"Is that why you sent him away, sir?" Tsuna asked, frowning again. He'd cut his own arm off before putting any of his Family in such a vulnerable position, especially so young.

"Not quite," the older man said, looking sad now. "Lambo has been alone for most of his life, except for the children here. His parents were both killed in a skirmish with another small Family by an accidental car bombing. They were targeted by mistake. They went out to dinner one day, leaving him with the nannies here, and never came back for him. He was crushed. We worked for two years here, to help him adjust, but he simply couldn't settle down. I believe he felt their absence constantly, and so he struggled to force other people to notice him. Even his aunt couldn't really be enough for him."

Tsuna's eyes widened as he listened. Lambo had never mentioned his parents, or really even much of the Bovino Family in their time together, except for a random gift received here or there along the way. He'd known there was some reason for Lambo's excessive behavior, but he never would have guessed it was something so painful.

"Then one day, we received a letter from Vongola, asking us to give him over to them. It was a hard decision, because while he is a bit energetic and destructive, to say the least, he's also much loved by all of us. In the end, however, he overheard us discussing it and demanded to be sent. He wanted to prove himself yet again." The Bovino sighed sadly. "We did our best to keep track of him. There have always been people around to make sure he was well cared for, and if you hadn't taken him in so quickly, I would have had him brought home soon after he arrived in Japan."

"My mother adores him," Tsuna admitted, shrugging lightly. "It's been hard for her, I think, with only one child and dad traveling so much. Lambo must have been the perfect size to fill her heart. They're very close. When he and I-pin started school formally, Mom walked them to school every morning and picked them up every afternoon for the first month. Everyone could see how happy that made him. Then one day he told us that Mama had too much to do every day and that I should get off my lazy rear end and pick them up instead." He laughed at the memory of that statement and how he'd argued that Lambo and I-pin could find their way home just fine from a few blocks away but gave in and did it anyway. In fact, he still did it every afternoon and when he couldn't, one of the others showed up for the kids instead.

"He really is a good boy at heart," the Bovino boss said, smiling. "They say the truly strong ones take a lot longer to come into their power."

Tsuna and Hayato exchanged a look and grinned, knowing it was true. Not just for Lambo but for all of them, really. Nothing came easily to any of them and so they knew the result of hard work and dedicated effort.

"Then if it's all right with you, sir," Tsuna said, relaxing into his chair, "we'd like to continue to care for him. I think that things would be too quiet without him around."

"Damned straight," Hayato added, also relaxing. "Life wouldn't be as interesting without the stupid cow causing trouble."

The business end of their visit finished, and feeling much more relaxed, they stayed another hour with the Bovino Family before they rounded up Lambo and Futa and moved on to the next part of their day, which was sightseeing.

Being tourists in Venice was a great deal of fun, and Tsuna tried to make the most of it for the kids. They took canal rides from site to site, making sure to admire the beautiful and ancient buildings and bridges along the way. He tried to minimize things that would be too boring for them and so they avoided the museums but did take the time to tour a few of the historic churches. Even Lambo was quieted by the sanctity of places like that. He took hundreds of pictures of them around various statues and historic points, all for his Mom.

They stopped along their way to shop in the markets, picking up souvenirs and food when they were hungry. Tsuna'd never seen so much fresh produce in one place in his life, and he took advantage of the opportunity to try new things, always sharing with Hayato or the kids. He also set some aside in the car their bodyguards had brought, for Chrome, Reborn and Bianchi. It never hurt to take the extra step here and there to do something nice for his Family, after all.

* * *

*Title translates to "Sincerely (from the heart)".


	11. Chapter X: Vi et animo

**Chapter X: Vi et animo (Vongola Estate / Venice, Italy / Current Day)**

* * *

**A/N:** This chapter does contain sexual content. Gokudera/Tsuna. Don't like, don't read.

It wasn't until well after dinnertime that they finally made it back to the Vongola estate and got the kids cleaned up, fed and into bed for the night. Both Hayato and Tsuna were exhausted by the end of it, but they'd taken hundreds of pictures of the boys at different locations and spoiled them rotten with gifts and treats along the way.

Reborn had been conspicuously absent during most of their fun that day, popping up now and then to point out something interesting and then vanishing into thin air again. By the time they made it home, it had been a few hours since they'd last seen him. This was fine with Tsuna as he very much wanted to avoid the conversation with Reborn that he knew was coming.

Reborn wasn't stupid and he wasn't blind. If he hadn't already tuned into the fact that Tsuna was making moves without his knowledge, it wouldn't be long until he did. So in an effort to avoid a confrontation on their return to the castle, Tsuna retreated to Hayato's room to hide. He was blessed by the fact that Hayato was the one person who rarely ever questioned his actions.

"Boss," Hayato started, flopping onto the bed with him lazily, "I think those kids are going to be the death of us. At least it was only two, and not the usual three. It kept the brawling to a minimum."

"You're the only one who was brawling with Lambo," Tsuna teased cheerfully, stretching out on the huge bed. "You're even more of a big brother to him than I am. You've got the scolding, teasing and tormenting down perfectly."

"It's true, it's true," Hayato admitted, rolling onto his side to look at Tsuna. "Are you hiding in here for the night, or just a few hours? I wish I could say that I could be your advance team and look for Reborn for you, but he's too sneaky for me. I have a few decades before I get that good."

"Mmm…" Tsuna rolled to his side as well, not the least bothered by the fact that they were much closer now. He could feel Hayato's breath on his cheek, warm and still sweet from their last stop for treats. "I'll go back eventually, or he'll come here and find me. I'm fairly sure he's got a GPS planted inside me somewhere, the way he can track me down so easily."

"Heh, that's not a bad idea, boss. I wonder if he'd give us receivers for it, too?" Hayato laughed at the thought, grinning. "Then at the first sign or sound of him, we go for Plan K?"

"It's probably the best option right now," Tsuna agreed, echoing his grin. "It's definitely the least likely to get us kicked or worse. He just stares at us and mutters instead."

"Well, it's not like it's not one of my favorite Reborn redirection plans," the other teen smirked lightly. "It's definitely useful for getting people to leave us alone for a while, although you and I have never really tried it on him deliberately. He's just got shitty timing when it comes to all of us. I will say it worked pretty well when he came looking for Takeshi the other day, though."

"You like it because it's fun, not effective," Tsuna teased him. "Although I didn't really expect it to spread through the Family the way it is. I saw Chrome use it with Ryohei the other day when Ken and Chikusa barged in on them. I thought Ken was going to have a stroke."

Hayato was laughing at the mental picture when they both heard the door click. Their eyes met and in a flash Hayato was over Tsuna, pressing him into the mattress before the door even began to swing open. A second after that his mouth descended on Tsuna's and one of his hands slid under Tsuna's t-shirt. Tsuna groaned softly into Hayato's mouth, partly in frustration at being interrupted and partly because as much as this was a diversionary tactic he and his friends used regularly to hide their private conversations from the rest of the world, it still felt pretty damned good.

Tsuna knew that some people would see all of this as strange, but he had no problem personally in offering whatever kind of support his Family needed. Most of them had been only twelve when they met, and they'd been through so much together that the advent of puberty and hormones had hardly made them blink by the time it was in full swing.

In the past couple of years, they'd all started fumbling about in these more adult realms. It was safer to experiment with the people you trusted the most, and most of them were a bit leery about involving the girls in anything that brought them closer to the danger they faced regularly. So Tsuna was sure it all looked a bit weird from the outside, but he didn't care.

Relationships, Tsuna knew, would eventually form amongst his Family and extend even outside of it, but for now he was content with being one of the first people they came to when they had no idea what do to and needed to figure it out. Their trust in him was absolute and there was no way he would turn them away when it was something so deeply personal. He had decided long ago that no matter what evolved in his own personal life, he would always be available to them when they needed him. They each loved him and needed him in their own way, and he knew that he would be lost without them.

It helped that since their first fumbling attempts at this, Tsuna and Hayato had successfully managed to get the hang of it and improve over time. The first time had been just embarrassing and they'd sworn never to bring it up to each other ever again. Now, however, Tsuna could only groan again as Hayato's thigh pressed between his, adding friction. The hot, slick feeling of Hayato's tongue sliding between Tsuna's lips helped even more, and his back arched, hips shifting to rub against Hayato's thigh as the kiss deepened.

Tsuna heard the door open fully but couldn't bring himself to care at the moment. Hayato had him covered and he knew that no matter how much they were both enjoying this that there was no way in hell Hayato wasn't completely aware of what was going on around him when Tsuna's safety was in question. That left Tsuna free to slide one hand up the back of Hayato's shirt and the other down the front of his jeans, working them open easily enough.

"Fuck, boss," Hayato gasped against Tsuna's mouth, hips bucking forward into his touch. "So good." In a flash his hand was on Tsuna's zipper, tugging it down.

Things would have continued nicely from there if the sound of a body hitting the floor hadn't echoed through the room right at that moment. Pausing, they blinked at each other for a moment before looking over to see what had happened. Both of them gaped at the sight of Dino passed out on the floor, a dazed look on his face, and Reborn standing on Dino's head.

"What the fuck?" Hayato growled, moving to cover anything too embarrassing that shouldn't be seen by the tutor. "Next time we'll have to lock the door." The one downside of Plan K was that when you were interrupted and had to distract people, you also had to express indignation at being interrupted in the first place. Tsuna and his closest friends were fast developing a reputation for lewd behavior and bad tempers amongst them.

"Dino wasn't expecting to see something so youthful going on in here," Reborn guessed, not the least bothered by what they'd walked in on. "For a moment there I thought we might have to take him to the hospital." He pointed to the nosebleed Dino had apparently spouted before passing out.

"We were just blowing off some of the stress of the day, Reborn-san," Hayato replied, straightening Tsuna's clothing while his body covered anything that might be exposed. Once satisfied, he rolled off his boss and onto his side, taking his time about getting his own zipper up, obviously disgruntled by the interruption.

"What would Takeshi say, Hayato, if he'd walked in on this?" Reborn asked, hopping up to sit on the dresser facing the bed. "I was under the impression that you and he were moving forward at a fast rate."

"He'd say 'Hayato, if you go past one of my marks on Tsuna, you can't fool around with him again until I put a new one on him' and then he'd laugh and ask for all the details." Rummaging in his back pocket, he pulled out his cigarettes and his lighter, sighing as he lit up and reclined back onto the bed.

Tsuna considered this himself for a moment before pulling off his shirt to examine his torso and hips. He twisted, trying to see his back in the mirror over the dresser. "I'm not sure I remember where the last one is, but it's got to be above the waist. Bianchi walked in on us before it went much further."

"It's right there," Hayato identified it by tracing a finger over a fading bite mark sitting just at the front line of Tsuna's left hip.

Tsuna glanced down to identify it and then shook his head. "I think that was from Chrome. The bite is smaller and the bruise is lighter." He turned a bit more. "Check the back around the same height?"

"There's one here from Hibari. You can actually see the outlines of his teeth. Oh, found it! Yeah, that's a big, dark one. Smug bastard, marking you like that." Hayato ran his fingers over both marks lightly. "It's like a contest for everyone at this point. Who's going to get your pants off, who'll see you nude first, who'll be the first to touch your dick, your ass, all of that. It's like competitive boss seduction, mafia-style." He paused and then grinned. "Of course, I was first for most of these so far, so I win."

"I don't mind much. I'd rather everyone have someone they trust to try these things with than to risk any damage to my Family that I couldn't fix in some way. I can't imagine some of those high school guys being the first for Kyoko-chan, Haru, or even I-pin. I can't even comprehend what Shouichi and Spanner would run into without you guys around to help them into their relationship. And since I'm the most single of all of us, I get to have some pretty unique lessons myself." Tsuna sat up and stretched before leaning over to kiss Hayato deeply, taking his time to thoroughly lavish attention on his friend.

"It looks like I've got to go, Hayato. Want me to check back in with you when I'm done? If Reborn's coming this late at night, it might be something that takes a while." Nipping at his bottom lip playfully, Tsuna stood.

"It's all right. I'll scrounge up blondie and red and drag them into some games that don't involve computers or other electronics. They've been getting curious about how guys do certain things to other guys." Hayato nodded to himself, lazily smoking on the bed.

"Have fun then, Hayato. I'll see you in the morning." With a last lingering kiss, Tsuna nuzzled against Hayato's jaw gently before nipping his earlobe. "I would much rather be in here with you," he whispered.

"Same with me, boss. Maybe we'd have gotten to the part of deciding who was going to be on top the first time," Hayato whispered against Tsuna's cheek. "But I can wait."

"Have fun with your kouhai then, and I'll see you at breakfast." Tsuna snagged his bag off the floor and nodded to Reborn. "Where to, Reborn? Should we take Dino to his room?"

"His men can come and pick him up when they're ready. It shouldn't take long." Reborn led Tsuna out and down the hallway. "We need to talk privately in our rooms about what happened yesterday and today, and I think at this point we should probably discuss boundaries between you all in regards to appropriate and inappropriate behavior."

"Am I going to get the sex education talk at sixteen, Reborn?" Tsuna teased lightly as he opened the door to their room and held it for Reborn before locking it behind them. "You're always full of good advice."

Reborn checked the room carefully for listening devices before settling himself in a chair by the fireplace in the sitting room area of the suite. One of the great things with these old castle estates was the ability to find a fireplace almost anywhere in any room. Tsuna took a few minutes to straighten himself out, put his things away and wash his face before joining Reborn.

"So what would you like to discuss first, Reborn?" Tsuna asked, leaning forward in his chair, eager to get this over with. "I'm sorry you had to see all that while looking for me. We were just blowing off steam after babysitting all day with the kids."

"You'll be happy to know that after your visit today, the Bovino Family have renewed and expanded their allegiance to Vongola, including many agreements they'd previously been holding out over. They've accepted expanded protection from us in exchange for a stronger recruiting option from their children as time goes by. It's rare for one Family to be willing to turn their children over to another Family. You must have done something to convince them of the safety and benefits of such an option."

"Well," Tsuna tried to think of how he might have caused this, "I got angry with them about sending a kid like Lambo out in the world all alone, and they opened up and told me what protocols they put in place to watch over him when he wasn't with us. They also said his growth personally and emotionally is exceptional and far better than they think he would have shown by staying home. Lambo doesn't have parents any longer and while the extended family helped out, it's hard to find women like Mom who love so deeply and are willing to love and care for so many."

"You did well, then. With the Vongola influence and training, their Family has the chance to grow and evolve, which will benefit Lambo in the end." Reborn nodded sagely. "Which brings us to this evening's adventures in the bedroom."

"You can't tell me you don't know what teenagers do when hormones run high and they spend a lot of time together, can you?" Tsuna was embarrassed enough to have to discuss this with Reborn, but he was not going to let anyone say anything negative about something that made his friends so happy. "We're not hurting anyone, Reborn, and right now it's safer than opening up to outsiders and making ourselves vulnerable to attack by people we're emotionally attached to. I've heard about too many heirs in different Families being taken out by lovers who have set them up."

"What I don't really understand in this, Tsuna, is why you are at the center of it. You've always been the shy one, the first to blush at the sight of a little skin or a pair of panties. It's a long hop from a crush on a girl to having your hand wrapped around Hayato's cock and his headed towards yours. Not to mention finding you and Yamamoto making out in the locker room the other day or when Hibari had you pinned to a wall for a good half-hour and wouldn't let anyone close enough to see what he was doing to you."

Tsuna blushed slightly at the list, but didn't argue. All of those things had happened, after all. "It's my Family, Reborn, and I give them what they need from me, as best I can. Sometimes it's a nap on the roof of the school where I end up a pillow. Sometimes it's sharing my lunch. Sometimes it's allowing one of them to touch me in a way they want to touch someone else, so that they can figure things out. And then sometimes it's just pure hormones, curiosity and trust mixed together."

"Aren't you worried that it could cause problems amongst the Family?" Tsuna could tell that Reborn was worried about that, and he nodded in response.

"I do worry, and I definitely care about it. But they all know that the others are coming to me as well. I'm their sky, Reborn. If that means that Lambo needs me to pick out his clothes, brush his hair and hold him while he cries, I'll do it. If that means that Hibari has to snooze on or near me to feel relaxed, it's fine. If Mukuro has to bully me and be forgiven so that he can truly believe that I will protect him and that he does have a home and Family with us, then I can live with that. If Chrome needs me to hold her and kiss her and tell her she's beautiful so that she can work up the courage to approach Ken as a woman, then I'll do that for her.

"Hayato and Takeshi enjoy playing the game of what they can learn from each other and then teaching me, and who will get to teach me first. Ryohei would die of shock at some of the things the others do with me, but I taught Chrome to kiss and Chrome taught Ryohei, and now he's gearing up to ask out Kyoko-chan's friend Hana, and possibly have his first real relationship."

"I can see what the Family gains from this, Tsuna, but what about you? Before long, they'll all be paired off and building relationships. Will you be able to stand back when they no longer need you in that particular way?" Reborn miraculously managed to produce two mugs of coffee and handed one to Tsuna, who took it with a nod of gratitude.

"My job is to hold them in ways that allows them to be themselves completely," Tsuna replied. "I love them all, even when they terrify me. But I already know that I'm not the one person for any of them. As they change, even now, they're changing the Family around them. I doubt it will be long before others are coming to me for some sort of comfort as well."

Tsuna paused to take a long sip from his mug of coffee. "I would love, Reborn, absolutely love to have someone for myself. Someone I knew would stay with me all of my life. I'd love someone who could love me, just for me. I want to be loved like that. On the other hand, that person would need to understand the needs of the people who love me in other ways. I will never put my own needs over the health of my Family. I'm not sure a person who could understand all of that and love me because of it really exists." Although he had his suspicions, now reinforced by hints dropped by the future Hibari.

Both of them sighed at the same time before leaning back and relaxing. At the moment it felt to Tsuna as if he'd passed some sort of test Reborn had given him, without Tsuna realizing it. Thinking about it, however, Tsuna knew that Reborn hadn't always been in the form he was in now. He could only guess at the type of sacrifices Reborn had been asked to make, to end up the size of a toddler. If anyone would understand and accept the type of sacrifices Tsuna was willing to make for his Family, it would be Reborn.

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*Title translates to "With heart and soul".


	12. Chapter XI: Animus facit nobilem

**Chapter XI: Animus facit nobilem (Vongola Estate / Venice, Italy / Current Day)**

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The following morning, Tsuna kept to himself through breakfast as he mused over what his next steps should be. His time here in Italy was limited and he needed to focus primarily on what must happen here that he needed to play a direct role in. There were things he could, and would, delegate to his growing Family, but some things required the personal touch. He was making lists in his head as the chair next to him moved, catching his attention.

Glancing over, he found himself smiling instinctively in response to the sweet smile Chrome gave him as she sat and reached for the serving plates. There was something about her presence that always left him warm and happy these days, but also made him blush slightly. He'd have blamed it on the few times they'd found themselves alone and curious enough to explore like most teens do, except that it had started long before that. Still, he couldn't have wound up with a better breakfast companion. Chrome was quiet, enjoyable and worry-free company for Tsuna.

"Boss," she greeted him sweetly as she filled her plate. "It's not like you to be all alone like this."

"I know," he replied, grinning at her cheerfully. "The planets must have aligned weirdly or something. Reborn was gone when I woke up, Bianchi is still handling the task I gave her, and I'm fairly sure Hayato dragged Shouichi and Spanner into his room last night, so we probably won't see any of them until lunch at the earliest. Even the kids found the nursery wing of the estate and all the other kids there, and I'm fairly sure Lambo's collecting minions and Futa's got a fan club."

"So they left you all alone?" Chrome shook her head slightly and started eating slowly. "Well, if you have free time, then I have something interesting for you to do, if you'd like?"

"I thought you were spending all your time with Mukuro, Chrome?" Tsuna blinked at her in surprise. "I'm sorry. It was thoughtless of me to assume you were tied up with him." Reaching out, he wrapped his hand around one of hers.

"No, boss!" Chrome rushed to reassure him. "I have been spending all of my time taking care of him. I wouldn't have left his side to eat if he hadn't ordered me to." She blushed, looking down at her plate. "He told me to come and find you, that you'd be alone."

"It scares me sometimes, Chrome, how methodically he tracks my activities," Tsuna told her, trying to look afraid but winding up laughing. "Or maybe I should be flattered?"

"I think, boss, you should be scared and flattered at the same time," she replied sagely, sipping at her juice. "He wants to see you. He said he has the strength now to do what you wanted. He's been recovering really quickly, actually. I was surprised."

"That's good news." Leaning back in his chair, Tsuna sighed softly. "I suppose I can't avoid doing it much longer. We'll go see him when you're done eating." He knew that she's stop eating and rush off with him immediately if he didn't force her to finish her meal. Instead, he drew her into a conversation about what she thought of the estate, how she was enjoying the visit here, and whether or not Mukuro was being a pain in the ass for her.

When she'd cleared her plate and had another glass of juice, Tsuna finally relented and stood, holding his hand out to her. Helping her out of her seat, he tucked her hand into his arm and escorted her properly. It amused him the way she blushed at the looks they were getting, so he leaned down and kissed her pink cheek, chuckling at the way gossip sprang up almost immediately around them. Ignoring it, he led her out and back into their wing of the estate.

He paused when, at the head of the hallway to Mukuro's room, Chrome stopped and slid her hand from his arm. "You go on, boss. I'm supposed to stay here and make sure no one interferes while you two work."

Nodding at her, he continued on, sliding his hands into his pocket so he wouldn't have to realize that they were shaking. He'd discussed this with Mukuro repeatedly before his arrival in Italy, but it still terrified him. It had to be done, though, and Mukuro was the only person he trusted to do it. Stopping outside his door, he took a deep breath to steady himself.

Knocking lightly before letting himself into the room, Tsuna smiled at the sight of Mukuro sitting up in bed, looking much healthier already. He'd heard from the estate doctor as well that Mukuro was healing at a remarkable rate, and it looked as if that was the case. It pleased him, he realized, to find that his faith in the odd teen's strength and resilience hadn't been misplaced.

"You're looking much better, Mukuro," Tsuna said, settling himself in the chair next to the bed. "Before long you'll be back to normal."

"Sadly I'm not quite well enough to appreciate my time alone with you the way that I hear the others have been," Mukuro replied, raising an eyebrow at him and then chuckling when Tsuna blushed deeply. "Still so innocent, Tsunayoshi-chan, even now."

"We all have our flaws, I guess," Tsuna did everything he could to make the blush go away before finally giving up and accepting it. "It has served its purpose, however."

"Yes, I suppose it did. Which means that for once, Tsunayoshi-chan, things are going your way."

"Here's hoping that's true, Mukuro. This isn't something I can afford to fail at." Tsuna slumped in his chair and pressed his forehead to Mukuro's mattress. "You know what I want to do next."

"I do. Do you think it's wise to do this? Whatever it is that's the source of these dreams could be much worse than what you're already seeing. For all we know this could be your mind's way of protecting itself." Mukuro looked down at Tsuna as if realizing finally how pale he was, and reached out a hand to grasp Tsuna's shoulder, feeling how his body was shaking.

"I don't have any other choice. I need to know everything. I can't keep hoping that I'm making the right choices each and every time. I need to see if there's a bigger picture. Chrome is standing guard in the hallway, to keep things quiet."

"Are you so sure I won't take advantage of the opportunity?" Mukuro grumbled slightly. He wasn't so sure he liked this Vongola Decimo who shook because he was scared of something besides Mukuro.

"I know you won't," Tsuna replied, laying his hand over the one Mukuro seemed to have forgotten was on Tsuna's shoulder. "Because I love you the same way I love all of my Family, and because I'll protect your precious people as viciously as you would, if it came to it. Because everyone needs something to call home, and I can be that, for you."

Mukuro sighed mournfully. "Really, the things you're doing to my image, Tsunayoshi-chan. Very well then, let's begin."

In moments they stood together in the landscape of Tsuna's mind. Both of them blinked slightly at the damage that surrounded them. Where Mukuro had expected innocence personified in much the way Chrome's mind looked, instead they found land scarred and torn. In places it looked almost as if nothing could grow there again, the damage was so severe. They looked at each other then, frowning.

"You should have come to me a long time ago," Mukuro scolded him, before lifting his trident confidently. It glowed violently as Mukuro's Mist flames fed it until it became the only thing either of them could see. Then Mukuro slammed it into the earth at their feet and the landscape shattered beneath them.

In a flash as bright as the one from Mukuro's strike, memory flooded into Tsuna and he started screaming. He saw Reborn almost die and saw himself hear about Reborn's death from Lal. He watched his friends fight, bleed, lose and suffer because of him. He saw the girls crying and shaking in a place ten years from the home they knew. He saw Lal beaten almost to death. The voices of hundreds of conversations rolled through his head, all bringing him to the same realization. All of this pain, all of this suffering, happened because of his lack of resolve. His failure to protect his Family early enough had almost destroyed them.

Tsuna couldn't stop screaming as the memories swamped him. Instead, he held desperately to the one rock he had. He had no idea when, in this mental hell, Mukuro's spiritual arms had wrapped around him and he didn't really care. All he knew for those painful, crushing moments was that someone was there, holding him up.

"I see now," Mukuro said, his cheek pressed against Tsuna's. "No wonder all of this was sealed away. It's unfortunate that people continue to underestimate you, Tsunayoshi-chan. They made a foolish decision here, in thinking you would be better off not knowing."

"Why?!" Tsuna practically wailed against his shoulder. "Why am I always so damned weak? How could I not have seen that what I was doing was so careless? So wrong? Why am I so fucking stupid all the time?"

"There's no changing what's already happened," Mukuro counseled him, "but now you know, and that will help. Perhaps none of this will happen, now that you're aware of it. After all, in none of these memories am I free, until near the end. You've already brought two geniuses who could have destroyed the Family into it, instead."

Tsuna nodded weakly, still clinging to the other boy. "We will change this. I will not be the weak link that tears us all apart."

Slowly, as if nurtured by their conversation and brightened by their resolution, the landscape around them started to change. Fissures and scars started to heal into smooth earth. Green started to sprout here and there and spread across the land. The air around them started to move in soothing patterns and finally, finally the sun came out, shining down in warm, bright beams of light.

"You've never been weak, Tsunayoshi-chan. Just foolish." Mukuro helped him stand again. "It's an important distinction that's saved your life many a time now."

"You sound like Reborn, turning everything that happens into a lesson somehow." Still, Tsuna could feel himself smiling. It was horrible, what he knew, far worse than what he'd dreamed, but knowing it was there and that it was changeable, made all the difference.

"I suppose I should give you your first mission then, Mukuro." Tsuna wrapped his hand over Mukuro's on his trident, squeezing gently. "Varia will be bringing you a present in a few weeks. Once we have him, I'm going to need you to destroy some of his memories as completely as any physical or digital record of his research to date will be. It won't be easy, because he's strong, but it's necessary."

"At least I won't be bored." The landscape around them slowly faded until they were simply two teenagers clinging to each other on a bed. Tsuna's head was resting on Mukuro's thigh, his arms tight around the other boy's waist.

"My throat hurts," Tsuna complained, swallowing slowly to try to ease it.

"You were screaming for quite a while, Tsunayoshi-chan. I had to use my own illusions as well as Chrome's to hide the sound and keep the cavalry from dashing in to save you."

Tsuna tilted his head enough to blink blearily at the clock. They'd been in here for over three hours. No wonder his throat hurt so much.

"Move over," he grumbled, and crawled into the bed with Mukuro. "Chrome can drop the illusions now." He yawned and sprawled out next to him. "Sleep with me?"

Mukuro blinked at him almost as if in shock. "I know you're amazed by my healing prowess, Tsunayoshi-chan, but really, even I can't go from imprisoned to something like that in just a few days."

Blushing, Tsuna tugged him down properly onto the bed. "Sleep, Mukuro. If I wanted sex I'd say 'have sex with me'."

"I wouldn't be so calm about it if I were you," Mukuro replied, settling himself down. "Am I the only one who knows you're still technically pure?"

"It's between you, me, the gods and probably Reborn. Reborn knows everything, it seems like," Tsuna replied, yawning again before burying his face in the pillows and falling asleep.

"The Arcobaleno certainly does know you well," Mukuro replied, looking up as the door to the room opened silently. "Although he's a bit late if he thinks he's making a rescue attempt."

"I heard him screaming when I came back. I heard him outside the castle. I've seen through your illusions before, so with a little focus, I found my way here." Reborn simply hopped up into the chair next to the bed and started petting Leon lazily. "I see that Tsuna's ability to win people over continues on its winning streak."

"Is that why you think I'm so willing to serve the Vongola?" Mukuro asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Don't be ridiculous. I simply prefer to be on the winning side in any battle. Not to mention that it keeps me closer to my final target."

"If that's how you like to think of it," Reborn replied, before drowsing off into his own nap.

"Really, Tsunayoshi-chan, I think you've destroyed my image completely. But I suppose, for you, I don't really mind so much." Mukuro curled his body around Tsuna sleepily, an arm draping over his waist to pull him snugly back against Mukuro's body, and allowed himself to drift off to sleep as well.

* * *

* Title translates to "The spirit makes noble".

**A/N:** Thank you everyone for all of the lovely feedback. It makes me smile every time I see one. I hope that you're continuing to enjoy the story. I have another 70K worth of words for it already written and in editing, so chapters will keep coming regularly.

As a quick note, the next few chapters will be what I'm calling "Interludes", set ten years later, to give us a flip-side view of the impact of what Tsuna is doing now. Some of them will change perspective and some may not involve Tsuna at all. Every ten or so chapters I'll break in with several of these, because I think they're a fun break in the drama. I think they're also great teasers for what's to come in the current day timeline. I hope you enjoy them.


	13. Interlude I: Cogito sumere potum alterum

**Interlude I: Cogito sumere potum alterum (Varia Compound / Venice, Italy / Ten Years in the Future)**

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* * *

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A/N:

This is the beginning of a small set of interlude chapters that will appear every ten or so regular chapters within this story and subsequent related stories. I wanted to give the readers a "flip side" view of how the future is turning out as Tsuna makes all of these changes. I also enjoyed the challenge of leaving hints to what will happen in the past in these future chapters. These chapters are about twice the length of the regular ones, for the most part.

This chapter focuses on Tsuna and Xanxus, ten years in the future. There is sex, and conversation, and a hell of a lot of drinking. There are also a lot of small clues hidden here and there, so I hope you enjoy finding them and wondering about them when you do.

There will very likely be two more chapters like this before the story of the past (current day) picks up again. Please enjoy!

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Tsuna was a vibrant twenty-six years old, in the prime of his youth and leader of the strongest mafia family in the world. He'd mostly grown into his father's build but kept his mother's delicate looks and coloring. He was surrounded by people who loved him, lovers who enjoyed their time with him, and a partner who took possessive and dominant to a whole new level. It sounded like a fairytale come true, especially to anyone who enjoyed having a robust sex life. It was all also the reason he was in the Varia headquarters hiding in Xanxus' office by the fire and getting drunk out of his mind.

"It's like having a fucking harem," he grumbled, holding his glass out for another refill, "only without the ability to lock them all away with eunuchs to keep them in line. Maybe that's what I need, eunuchs."

"Maybe you should make some of them eunuchs. That might calm things down a bit," Xanxus suggested with a wicked grin as he filled his glass and Tsuna's yet again. "Was there another scheduling conflict? I thought that's why you started that stupid lottery of yours, to prevent things like that."

"You know," Tsuna started, eyes blinking blearily at him, "it's not like they don't all run around fucking each other, too. It's not like I'm the only available piece of ass or cock in that goddamned castle. Hell, some of them sneak over here and go raiding in your fucking harem when they're bored."

"You're telling me," Xanxus lounged back in his chair and threw his feet up on the ottoman to toast by the fire. "You should have heard all the yelling and the occasional scream from downstairs the other day. I thought I recognized Gokudera's voice."

Tsuna twitched a bit at that, his eyes trying to picture what Hayato and Belphegor would get up to between the two of them if they got too bored. His eyes started to glaze as his mind threw up various images at him. It took another good swig of his drink to get them right back out of his head again.

"My point is, they have no problem getting laid," he grumbled, slouching in his armchair. "It's not like they're nagging me for it every day or anything. They understand about sharing and not making Reborn angry. Well, especially after that last incident where it took me almost a week to find all of them and free them and then I billed them for the repairs to the south wing. No, the problem is that they're so fucking clingy all the damned time."

"That's because you're too damned nice to them," came the reply from a now nicely drunk Xanxus. "You should fight with them more. Look at us," he gestured vaguely around the Varia compound, "we argue all the damned time and we fuck, and there's no clinging at all."

"Yeah, but you and your harem try to kill each other every now and then, too." Tsuna never quite managed to wrap his head around the social and interpersonal issues that tied the Varia together. What he did know was that they were all, without question, bat-shit insane. "I'm a grown man, for fuck's sake. Mine want to straighten my tie, brush my hair or get my coffee." He paused for a moment. "Well, to be honest that's really just Hayato and Lambo. They're the neediest."

"So to escape your clingy bitches, you've run away from home to come stay here?" Xanxus smirked at the thought. "How very manly of you, mini-boss."

"Fuck off," Tsuna muttered, finishing his drink with a long swig. "I went downstairs to find myself a sandwich, just a damned sandwich, and they were having a debate about cock size. I swear on all that's holy, my adult, fully grown Guardians were about to whip them out and measure."

Whiskey went up Xanxus' nose at that point when he snorted and drank at the same time. He flailed and wheezed and choked for a minute or so while Tsuna watched in amusement. That'd teach Xanxus not to underestimate the trauma of Tsuna's harem of men.

"Fuck," Xanxus wheezed, finally able to breathe again. "I'd almost pay to see them do it," he cackled cheerfully at the thought. "I bet we could bring my boys up to the challenge too. It'd be a dick-off of masterful proportions."

Tsuna tried to picture it and after a moment or two was successful. He howled with laughter at the mental image and flailed, finally falling out of his chair and onto the floor. It was all he could do to laugh and pound the floor, and it wasn't long before Xanxus joined him. They were a drunken, howling, hysterical mess.

Bel was the only one brave enough to open the door and check on them, when they got to be so loud it could be heard down the hallway. He poked his head in without knocking, curiosity overcoming self-preservation, which was a problem he'd had for a while. He blinked at the bosses flailing on the floor and tilted his head curiously.

"Is this some sort of kinky new sex play you two have created?" he laughed in amusement. "Shouldn't there be less clothing and more sweating involved?"

They both paused in their flailing to look up at him drunkenly. They stared, eyes looking him over thoughtfully before glancing at each other and nodding. Having come to a mutual agreement, they started laughing again. Bel frowned at them in disapproval. It was rude not to answer a direct question, after all.

"I'm going to tell Squalo that our no-good bosses are drunk and disorderly and about to set themselves on fire-" he paused as the hem of Xanxus' uniform jacket went up in flames as he rolled too closely to the fireplace, "-correction, have set themselves on fire." With that, he turned and left them both to burn.

Tsuna paused in his drunken laughing to put Xanxus out as best he could, slapping the blossoming flame against the carpet until it was barely smoldering. Struggling back into their chairs, they both wheezed, holding their ribs. A couple of refills and their drinking resumed at a slower pace this time.

"You need to smack that one around a bit more," Tsuna muttered. "He's mouthy. I'm not sure I appreciated that look he gave my ass or yours, either."

"He's a tricky one. He likes that sort of thing. You have to figure out if he's asking for it, or actually deserves it. Gives me a fucking headache every time." Xanxus lifted his glass in a toast to confusing and annoying lovers. "We won't even get into that bitchy silver one who wants you to be angry but not at him all the time. Fucking brats."

Tsuna hid a smile, hearing the subtle affectionate undertones in the bitching and complaining. Varia's lower ranks may have changed in the past twelve or thirteen years, but the higher echelon had remained mostly unchanged for all of those years. It spoke highly of the bonds between all of them, no matter how much they bitched about it. Much like his own friends, he supposed.

"Where's your keeper, brat? You're not supposed to leave the estate without a bodyguard." Xanxus looked over at him curiously. "Don't tell me you managed to slip out without anyone following you over? They watch you like vultures over there."

"I locked myself in my suite, ditched the GPS and bolted through the window," Tsuna grumbled, relaxing back into his chair. "The only one who can track me now is Reborn, and he's in Paris on a job."

"They don't track your car?" Xanxus was going to have words, violent and bloody words, with Tsuna's Guardians the next time he came to the main estate.

"I didn't drive. I flew." Tsuna looked triumphant for a moment, smug in his pleasure at finding a way to escape for at least a little while. "I did leave a note, though." He may have been going nuts, but he was also fully aware of the destruction and havoc his Guardians could cause in a panicked search for him. "I figured the fear of coming into the suite will fade after an hour or so and someone would pick the lock and find it."

"Not bad," Xanxus had never really considered flying in anything other than a combat situation. "Still, if they're going to storm the base, I can't keep my boys from taking them up on the challenge. They'd be pissed for weeks about not being allowed to have any fun."

"If they're smart, they'll sit at home and shut the hell up and leave me alone," Tsuna growled, setting his glass down. "Otherwise your boys won't need to go out to meet them. I'll beat the hell out of them all on your lawn."

"You can't tell me this is all because they got pissy about cock size?" Xanxus looked at him thoughtfully.

"Well I didn't particularly appreciate the joint lecture about the dangers of sleeping with you I got this morning over breakfast," Tsuna continued his growling and grumbling at the thought. "Fucking hypocrites."

"I don't need you to get all bitchy and defend me," Xanxus practically snarled at him, good mood fading slightly. "I don't give a fuck what anyone thinks about me."

"I don't need to defend you," Tsuna growled back, standing up and starting to pace. "There's nothing that needs to be defended or explained. More importantly, it's none of their fucking business. The only person, the only-" he slammed his fist into the wall, hearing stone crack under his hand and not caring, "-the only person who has the right to say anything about who I spend my time with is Reborn, and he approves. He fucking approves."

"First of all, if that's all that matters, then that's all that matters," Xanxus snorted at him lightly and leaned back again, relaxing. "Second, you're paying to fix my fucking wall, and don't you dare try to tell them I fucking did that, you little brat."

"Like you can tell the difference between that and the other holes you've put in your walls this week," Tsuna replied, deciding not to return to his chair and moving instead to join Xanxus in his, taking up the majority of his lap and settling in. "I have to admit, it felt good, though."

"I teach you all sorts of things that feel good. That doesn't mean I'm paying to fix the wall," Xanxus teased gruffly, but didn't shove him off, sliding an arm around his waist instead. "Don't let the bitching mess with your head. It's part of being the boss. Everyone thinks they know what's good for you and that you have no fucking clue yourself."

Tsuna laughed, then, and relaxed again, leaning into him comfortably. "It's not so bad, most of the time. It shows that they care, I guess. I just think that sometimes they can't see past their own needs to understand other people more."

"We're mafia. We don't worry about things like feelings. We worry about dodging that next bullet long enough to do our own killing."

"Now you're just trying to piss me off," Tsuna replied, amused. "We both know there's a lot more to it than that; at least the parts involving being the boss."

"Yeah, but you always have to remember, they're not bosses." Xanxus pulled him closer as he relaxed as well. "They'll never have to make the kinds of choices we make, not at that level. So they can pretend to understand, but they never will."

"Reborn understands," Tsuna grumbled, almost pouting.

"That's because he's a monster like the two of us, kiddo." Handing Tsuna his own glass to finish off, Xanxus watched the fire burn. "He's just a different kind of boss."

Tsuna pulled out his cell phone and dialed thoughtfully, putting it on speaker while it rang, before joining Xanxus in his fire-watching. It took a few rings before there was a click on the line.

"Do you know how many calls I've gotten in the past hour from people who are looking for you?" Reborn's voice was full of dark amusement and they could hear the clink of a glass being set on a table somewhere in Paris. "Then I got a call about you and Xanxus setting each other on fire, which I'm going to discount as fiction or someone's imagination."

"Technically, Xanxus set himself on fire," Tsuna defended himself. "I was the one who put him out when we finally noticed it."

Xanxus eyed the hem of his jacket someone grumpily. "It couldn't have been on fire for more than a couple of minutes."

"Exactly how drunk are the two of you?" They could hear him laughing now and for some reason it made both of them squirm in embarrassment just a little bit.

"We should still have at least one bottle left," Tsuna answered, looking over at the table and nodding. "So we're only two in so far."

"Stay where you are for the night, then," Reborn told him, laughing again. "No drunk flying around Venice. I'm not there to fish you out of the canals again, and I'm not sure I would, even if I were. It took me days to get the smell out of my hair."

"I will." Tsuna paused and then sighed. "I'm sorry they dragged you into this. You're working and they should know to leave you alone when you are."

Xanxus grunted in agreement with Tsuna. "They could have put you at risk."

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Reborn snorted at them both and they could almost see him tilting his hat at them and smirking. "I'm already done. I'll be back in time for lunch tomorrow."

"Really?!" Tsuna perked up almost like a puppy at that. "I thought it was going to take a week or more?"

"Don't you get it, brat?" Xanxus laughed roughly, very amused now. "They hassle you into fleeing the estate, to the point where you took shelter here, of all places. Then, they had the balls to call your keeper and bitch that they can't find you, after you left them a note and everything?"

"They need more training," Reborn said, a soft growl in his voice. "I'll make sure they have that, and only that, until I'm satisfied that I can trust them to take care of you properly again."

"Now that's more like it," Xanxus commented, his approval clear in his voice. "Whip the little bitches into shape."

"Tsuna," Reborn's voice was softer now, "get some rest and try not to be too hung over when I come to get you."

"So bossy," Tsuna teased, leaning further against Xanxus and resting his head on his shoulder. "Have a safe trip home, Reborn."

There was a click and the line went dead. Tsuna smiled and tucked the phone back into his pocket. "See? Reborn doesn't mind that I'm here with you. So the rest of them can shut the hell up and find a hobby."

"You are their hobby, mini-boss," Xanxus stood easily and hoisted Tsuna over his shoulder, leaving his scorched jacket on the chair behind them. Carrying Tsuna, he left the office and headed down the hallway. "You heard your keeper. Let's get you to bed. I'll let you rest eventually."

"What, are you going to use some of that mafia seduction Reborn's always going on about on me?" Tsuna snickered against his back, highly amused. "Does that work on other men?"

"I'll go mafia on your ass, if that's what you want," Xanxus grumbled at him, patting Tsuna's ass with a firm hand, groping him deliberately.

"You keep your drunken mafia hands off my ass, you perverted bastard," Tsuna said, and reached down to grab Xanxus' ass with both hands, squeezing. It almost got him dropped on his head as the older man jumped and did his manly best not to yelp.

"Boss," a deep voice distracted them both for a moment and Xanxus leaned against the wall with his Tsuna-free shoulder as Levi approached them, frowning. "What are you doing?"

Xanxus blinked at the black blob slightly blearily and then grunted. "Shouldn't you be out eating babies or something, Levi? It's late."

"You don't really let him eat babies, do you?" Tsuna looked up from his groping long enough to wriggle and peer around Xanxus' waist at Levi. "Do you really eat babies, Levi? I mean, I thought that when I was like, fourteen, but it's not true, is it? Vongola don't eat babies, do they?"

"Uh, no, I mean, I don't normally eat babies," Levi gazed at them in absolute confusion and then sniffed the air. "You're both drunk." He frowned at them in disapproval.

"He's a lot drunker than I am," Xanxus stated, patting Tsuna's ass again. "He ran away from home to come live with us because he's surrounded by a bunch of bitches."

"Yeah, bitches," Tsuna nodded his agreement and resumed his own groping cheerfully. "So I came to see his bitches instead."

"Who's a bitch?" Levi blinked, his mind trying to process the two drunken men and their words.

"You are, dumbass." Xanxus finally managed to straighten himself properly, hoisting Tsuna properly again. "You and all the rest of you are. You're all my bitches and you know it." With that, he pushed past Levi, who was now bright red, and headed towards his suite.

"But tonight I have to take care of the mini-boss. So go entertain yourselves." Waving Levi off, he stumbled the rest of the way with Tsuna protesting his nickname the entire way.

"You'd better not drop me, you drunk fuck," Tsuna complained, as Xanxus wobbled a bit. "Or you won't be taking care of anything until they can find your balls from where I'll lodge them in your lungs."

"Shut the hell up," Xanxus whapped his ass again firmly, "this takes a lot more thinking when I'm drunk."

"You better not pass out mid-fuck again either, or I'm duct-taping you to the wall naked." Tsuna's point made, he tried to slide his hands down the back of Xanxus' pants. There were more interesting things to do than talk, after all.

The great thing about sex with Xanxus was that it was absolutely uncomplicated, which made it extremely easy to simply enjoy it. There were no emotional complications at all. It's true they'd started out as enemies and maintained somewhat of an armed truce for a while after that. Over time, however, things had grown to the point where there was nothing wrong with taking shelter in one or the other's office for an evening to get away from everyone else.

To be honest, although neither would admit it, Xanxus might just be the only lover Tsuna had who didn't center his life around Tsuna in some way. He had no interest in serving Tsuna directly beyond his position in Varia, and no significant emotional attachment to him, not like the others did. They liked to drink together, watch television together and fuck when the mood struck. It worked out well for both of them.

They had a bad history however with the drunken sex, so Xanxus tossed Tsuna onto the bed and rummaged for bottles of water and painkillers, tossing Tsuna his share before popping several and downing his water. Tsuna followed his example, lounging back on the bed as he did so. When they were done, he hopped up again and moved out onto the balcony. It was always better to do this away from the flammable things. Hopping up onto the railing, he stretched and then burst into flame, hands and forehead flaring brightly in the starry sky.

"This has got to be the best side effect of these flames anyone's ever discovered," he said as Xanxus joined him, letting his own flame loose. Both could feel their metabolisms burning now, shaking off the alcohol like it was nothing.

"Pretty fucking good, isn't it?" Xanxus smirked at him before flickering out again. "Better than listening to you bitch that I'm being too rough or not using enough lube."

"No one likes to bleed out of their ass, you bastard," Tsuna grumbled before letting his own flame die down and hopping back down to the balcony floor. "You try it sometime."

"I did, which is why we're never hanging out in those fucking baths of yours again." Xanxus shot him a dirty look at the memory.

"How was I supposed to know water would wash away…you know what, it's not important. I already apologized," Tsuna grumbled at him before grinning. "But it was pretty funny to watch you limp."

"I had to tell everyone we'd been sparring and you got in a lucky shot," he snorted, bopping Tsuna on the top of the head. "Better than telling them you don't know how to use that cock of yours."

Tsuna blushed indignantly and grumbled but finally shrugged. "You're taller than all the others. It'll take some work to get it right."

"Only if you ever get another chance," Xanxus replied before snagging Tsuna's collar and dragging him back to the bed. "You'll be spending a lot of time on your hands and knees before that happens."

"Shut up and take your pants off," Tsuna shot back, tossing his jacket and shirt aside. He wasn't sure where his tie had ended up. "I'm not spending another week with a buckle-shaped bruise on my ass for all to see."

"Your own fault for laying on it, brat," Xanxus stripped quickly enough, however, before lounging back onto the bed in all his leonine glory, stretching in the glowing firelight. "Now stop admiring me and get your fucking ass over here."

Tsuna blushed again but he had been admiring Xanxus. It was times like this that he wished Xanxus had someone who would watch over him the way Reborn cared for Tsuna. He was fairly sure, however, that Xanxus would probably kill and possibly eat that person. Rather than dwelling on it, he shoved his pants and boxers off and crawled onto the bed.

"Come here," Xanxus reached out and fisted a hand in Tsuna's hair, pulling him closer roughly before kissing him deeply, his tongue fierce and aggressive as it dove into his mouth. He smirked against his lips as he felt Tsuna submit to him, the younger man finishing his crawl and straddling his hips. When the kiss finally broke, they were both hard and panting. "Fucking hell."

"Yeah," Tsuna nipped at his mouth before licking along his lips after every bite. "It's been a while since we've had the time." Almost two months if he remembered right. Not the longest gap since they'd started doing this, but one of the more frustrating, given that they both had been in Italy the entire time and just kept too damned busy with work. "Maybe I need to hire you more help."

"Maybe you need to mind your own damned business," Xanxus told him, hands sliding over Tsuna's sides and down to his ass, squeezing roughly before pulling him closer, his hips lifting up to rub against Tsuna slowly. "You're not going to catch me in that web of yours, little boss. Someone has to be able to keep their head on right around you."

"I think the others would have fits if you ever did," Tsuna laughed as his mouth moved along Xanxus' jaw and down his neck, biting and licking in lazy movements while his hips pressed against every movement Xanxus made. The friction was exquisite, rough to the point of a tinge of pain. It was one of the things he enjoyed about this. The only other family member who was willing to actually hurt Tsuna during sex beyond the occasional bite or hair pulling was Reborn. "So I'll take what you're willing to give."

"I'll have to give you back in the morning," Xanxus reminded him, "so don't get too rough. Your keeper will shoot me if I return you too damaged." That didn't stop him from biting Tsuna's shoulder roughly, however. Reborn wouldn't begrudge him a couple of marks, as he was usually far too lazy to leave any.

"Reborn understands," Tsuna replied, growling under his breath at the bite, "the same way you do. That's why I let the two of you be rough with me. I can trust you, even if you are a lazy ass."

"Just for that, I'll make you do all the work." Xanxus slid a hand behind him and under the pillow before pulling it out again and handing Tsuna the small bottle. "But I might be willing to help with this part. It's always fun to watch you fuck yourself on my fingers."

"I'll make it worth your while to do your part," Tsuna grinned at him wickedly before lifting himself off and reversing his position over Xanxus. "That way you don't have to listen to me talk." He put his mouth to better use, taking Xanxus' cock in one swift bob of his head, his tongue sliding along the hot length of him.

There was no hesitation in the lift of Xanxus' hips as he pressed himself into Tsuna's mouth, fucking Tsuna's face as he moaned. His teeth sank into Tsuna's inner thigh hard enough to leave a mark and Tsuna's cock twitched, his cry vibrating around Xanxus' cock wonderfully. A flip of the lid and a slick of his fingers and Xanxus pressed a finger into Tsuna roughly, relying on Tsuna's experience to accommodate him properly.

"You're always so fucking hot for me, brat," Xanxus groaned, fucking him lazily with his finger before adding a second a little too early and enjoying the small moan of pain. "Maybe it's time to keep that fedora-wearing ass of yours closer to home, if you're this neglected. But then, who am I to complain?"

Tsuna's hips pressed back, his ass tilting up in approval, almost begging for more. To reward Xanxus, he put his tongue to wicked use, teasing and stroking along his cock while his head bobbed, teeth grazing along the sides every now and then. He couldn't keep from moaning and whimpering with each thrust of Xanxus' fingers, which only added to the building sensations.

Panting and moaning, they barely noticed as the room and the air grew hot and humid. It was always a risk when the two of them fucked that flame would spark and it always made the room steam around them. They thrived on it, however, skin growing slick with sweat and gleaming in the firelight.

"Enough," Xanxus finally growled, a hand fisting in Tsuna's hair to pull him off his cock. "Turn that ass of yours around and ride me. I've done my job."

Turning his body, Tsuna licked his swollen lips and nodded, straddling his hips again before leaning down to kiss him roughly. Their tongues tangled as Xanxus reached down to hold his cock steady and Tsuna sank himself down onto it. Xanxus swallowed Tsuna's scream as he took him in all in one movement, his body painfully tight and scorching hot. He gave Tsuna his own deep growl of pleasure in return, his hands sliding down to grip Tsuna's hips tightly.

"Move," he ordered roughly when the kiss finally broke. "Fuck yourself on me." His hands urged Tsuna up again demandingly.

Tsuna obliged him, bracing his legs and moving urgently over him. He rose only to drive back down again, his back arching with pleasure at each shift of his hips. Xanxus was moaning because Tsuna's body clung to him like a vice, pulling on him as he rose and practically sucking him back in as he sank. It was mind-blowing and insane, the whirlwind of sensations.

"Fuck, Tsunayoshi," Xanxus snarled when he couldn't take it anymore and his grip on Tsuna's hips tightened as he slammed up into him as Tsuna sank down. "You're driving me insane." He began fucking Tsuna from beneath in time to Tsuna's movements, his hips snapping roughly.

Tsuna's cry of approval echoed through the room and from there it was almost a race. In the end, Tsuna's cock was so slick with sweat and slick liquid that a wrap of Xanxus' rough hand around it and one hard stroke set him off. He yowled Xanxus' name as he came, spilling over his hand and slamming himself down on his cock, his body painfully tight.

Xanxus rolled him, one hand sliding under a thigh to lift it over his shoulder and he slammed into Tsuna with a few more rough, deep thrusts, almost bending him in half. When Tsuna bit his shoulder he lost it, burying himself one last time as he fell, filling Tsuna in hot waves as his body shuddered over him. They stayed like that, panting and moaning, for a long moment.

"Fucking hell," Xanxus moaned as he finally pulled back and lowered Tsuna back onto the bed before sprawling onto his back next to him. "I think my brain shot out of my cock."

"That was fucking brilliant," Tsuna agreed, panting and sweating. "That, right there, is why the others can shut the hell up about my spending time with you."

Xanxus laughed at that and stood, moving nude across the room to open the balcony doors and throw open the surrounding windows to let the cool evening breeze into the room. Tsuna slid out of the bed and stumbled his way to the bathroom to clean up, taking the time to shower. Normally he wouldn't bother showering right away, but he'd learned better than to smell too much like anyone else when Reborn came home. Sleeping in the same bed was manageable but smelling like sex was always likely to cause trouble for the offending party, and Reborn's creativity when enraged knew no end.

When he returned to the bedroom, he couldn't help but grin. Some things never changed. Xanxus was sprawled on the bed, covers shoved down around his waist, watching the international news. It was almost an exact replay of the first time they'd done this. On his bedside table there was a glass of wine and a bottle. On Tsuna's side there was juice. Wait.

"Juice? Are you kidding me?" Tsuna gave him a glare. "What, am I sixteen again?"

"There was enough sweat to soak the sheets through the duvet," Xanxus shot back, flipping to another news channel. "Most of it smelled like you. I had them change the bedding but you'll have a bitch of a headache tomorrow if you don't rehydrate. Then that monster of yours will shoot at me and that always pisses me off."

"If he's a monster, then so are the two of us," Tsuna replied, defending Reborn before flopping onto the bed, but taking his juice and sipping at it obediently. No point in pissing off both Xanxus and Reborn.

"That's the damned truth, isn't it?" Xanxus sighed but turned down the volume slightly to pay attention to him since Tsuna was behaving himself. "But that's the point of being the boss, isn't it? Taking on the burdens the others can't handle."

"Yeah," Tsuna agreed, moving over to curl against him slightly. "There are times it really fucking sucks."

"Love it and live it, mini-boss." Xanxus grinned at him and went back to watching the news. Tsuna made it through the late night news programs before he passed out from exhaustion.

A while after that, Xanxus looked up at the soft tap on his door before it opened silently. He nodded a silent approval to enter and watched Viper walk across the floor and over to the bed. It was nice to not have to look down at the floor or up at the ceiling to have a conversation these days.

"Boss," Viper started, before blinking at the sight of Tsuna curled up against his side, obviously naked under the sheets. "Really, you two need to learn some discretion."

"We didn't fuck in front of you or anyone else. Does that count?" Xanxus asked, sipping from his wine glass and leaning back again. "What do you want?"

"Intel reports that Reborn crossed the border back into Italy approximately half an hour ago. Do you know why he might have abandoned his mission early? Earlier reports had him settled in a hotel for the night." Varia kept a close eye on everyone who interacted regularly with Tsuna, keeping a dark and silent watch for threats against the Family.

"I spoke with him tonight," Xanxus replied and nodded towards the sleeping body in the bed next to him. "He said that he'd finished early and was going to return tomorrow to, as he put it, provide the Guardians with more training that they obviously need."

Viper nodded, the pieces fitting together quickly in that sharp mind. "I understand." A soft pause followed. "Sawada shouldn't be so careless, sleeping through the arrival of an assassin like this."

"Fuck off, Viper," Tsuna muttered, burying his face against Xanxus' hip. "You're the one who pimped your boss out to me the first time. I'm not that worried you're going to knife me in the back for letting him fuck me now." With that, he drifted right back off to sleep again.

Xanxus laughed, beyond amused. "Well, he's right. You did sell me out to the little brat."

"Of course I did," Viper replied, smirking. "I made good money on the deal, too. I don't hear you complaining about it."

"You won't," Xanxus replied, stroking Tsuna's hair absent-mindedly. "It's dangerous, but I'm not as weak as the others are. I don't need to be in love, or to be supported or protected."

"Don't need to be in love, hm?" Viper asked, not bothering to point out that he probably already halfway was and was just too blind to realize it. "That's good, boss. I'd hate to see the others riot around here in protest. Levi's already sulking in the basement training rooms."

Xanxus smirked slightly as he heard that. "I guess the mini-boss is right. It is like having a harem. Which reminds me," his smirk widened into a very wicked grin, "you and I have plans tomorrow, don't we?" It wasn't often that Viper would insist on time alone with the boss, but when it happened, no one dared to argue.

"If you're lucky," Viper replied, also smiling just a bit, before standing to leave. "Get some sleep, boss. You're going to need it."

Xanxus whistled to himself softly as he left. It looked like the week might be looking up even more. His patience with that one was finally starting to pay off these days, and his protection of their Arcobaleno from the predatory ways of the others after the return of his adult body had been appreciated.

"You heard the nice crazy psychic, Xanxus," Tsuna muttered against his skin, rousing again at the noise, "get some sleep so you can fuck the nice psychic's brains out tomorrow night while I'm home underneath my own crazy lover."

Laughing, Xanxus flipped the television off and set his wineglass aside. Pulling the covers up, he slid down into the bed and curled around Tsuna instinctively, moving his boss so that his own back was firmly placed between the rest of the world and Tsuna, and ignoring the light swat of protest. Sharply nipping the back of Tsuna's neck to enforce obedience, he drifted off to sleep as Tsuna settled down and his breathing evened out again.

* * *

*Title translates to "I think I'll have another drink".


	14. Interlude II: A caelo usque ad centrum

**Interlude II: A caelo usque ad centrum (Varia Compound / Venice, Italy / Ten Years in the Future)**

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**A/N:** This chapter contains sex. Specifically R27 (Reborn/Tsuna) with hints of R18 (Reborn/Hibari), 1827 (Hibari/Tsuna), 2718 (Tsuna/Hibari) and X27 (Xanxus/Tsuna). It also contains plot and other neat things. Whether you read it or not is entirely up to you. The hardcore sex is towards the end of the chapter.

It was painfully early in the morning when Xanxus woke the first time. The sun was just starting to peek over the trees surrounding the Varia compound but even dead asleep he couldn't miss the ominous feel of death moving through his home. He would have been up and out of bed in a flash if he hadn't recognized the aura for what it was.

Instead, he moved to the far side of the bed and tugged Tsuna along with him, turning him to face towards the door and then put a few feet of space between them before drifting back off to sleep again. He'd be damned if he'd leave his own bed just because the bastard was territorial as fuck. He was not, however, stupid enough to make it look like he was being possessive over the brat, either.

The door opened silently and an almost invisible shadow slipped into the room, closing the door behind him. Moving towards the bed on silent feet, Reborn stopped at the edge and looked down at his sleeping boss. He was exhausted, having decided to not bother staying the night in Paris and instead starting back after ending their phone call last night. Debating on whether to wake Tsuna or simply carry him out to the car, he blinked in surprise when there was a soft tug on his sleeve.

"You look tired," Tsuna whispered before yawning widely. "Tell me you didn't drive all the way back overnight instead of sleeping first, Reborn. Didn't I tell you to get some rest?"

"Haven't I told you before, Tsuna? I never lie to the boss. There was no reason for me to stay there any longer than I had to." Reborn sat on the edge of the bed and tangled his fingers with Tsuna's, squeezing his hand lightly, his thumb rubbing over Tsuna's skin gently. "You were upset." It was the only emotional reason he'd give for his choice, but it was more than enough for Tsuna. "Are you ready to go home?"

Tsuna nodded at him sleepily and wriggled himself out of the covers, taking the time to make sure Xanxus was properly covered. Sliding over to join Reborn on the edge, he stretched lazily before leaning against him and sliding his arms around his waist, not the least bothered by his own nudity. Resting his cheek on Reborn's shoulder, he nuzzled against his neck affectionately.

"Let's go home so you can get some rest," Tsuna said, kissing the soft skin behind his ear and making Reborn shiver slightly. "Then we can make everyone else do all the work for the day and I can keep you all to myself. If I can stay awake, that is."

Reborn laughed and turned his head, kissing Tsuna slowly, a smoldering brush of lips that evolved when his tongue traced Tsuna's lips lazily before slipping into his mouth to taste and explore. He loved how Tsuna's hands always clutched at his shoulders when he kissed him like this, as if he were the only thing in the world for Tsuna to cling to. It was something he enjoyed so much that he spent hours and sometimes weeks finding new ways to make Tsuna cling to him like that. Of course, he hadn't heard any complaints about it yet.

"Go home and fuck, you two," Xanxus grumbled, flinging a pillow at them before pulling the covers over his head again. "I'm too tired to join in and not interested in listening. Come back later if that's what you want." With that, he was asleep again while they both chuckled at his protest.

"He's got plans with Viper tonight," Tsuna informed Reborn solemnly. "He probably wants to conserve his energy, you know." He slid off the bed and went looking for his clothing, thankfully finding most of it in one place. Reborn was nice about helping him into all of it, although there were a whole lot of hands in places that didn't have anything to do with getting his shirt on that left his pants really tight by the time they were done.

"Come on, Tsuna." Reborn tugged him towards the door and out of the estate house demandingly. "I want to be home, in bed, with you."

Tsuna followed him willingly and caught up with him at the car, turning him and pinning him to the door of it to kiss him thoroughly. It was a desperate, needy kiss that told Reborn everything he needed to know about why Tsuna had fled here for the night. Sliding a hand into Tsuna's hair, Reborn pulled him closer, deepening the kiss until he was practically fucking Tsuna's mouth while his other hand settled on his ass and pulled his hips tightly against his own, showing him exactly how much Reborn wanted him.

The whimper that slipped out of Tsuna's mouth and into his made his cock twitch almost painfully. He slid a thigh between Tsuna's and rubbed, pulling Tsuna against him as he moved. Another whimper and the kiss broke, leaving Tsuna panting against his cheek.

"I missed you," Tsuna whispered, sliding his arms around Reborn tightly. "Everyone needs something, always something, and it's so much harder when you're not here. It's like my heart is missing and I'm empty inside. I can't find balance when you're gone and they need so much."

His Tsuna must be exhausted, to be this upset. Reborn would be having words with the Guardians and staff over the next few days about putting their boss into a state like this. He'd also adjust his schedule and theirs for the next month or so to allow him be home more and let the others handle some of his work. As much as the Guardians had grown significantly into their talents, he disliked pushing the more murderous aspects of their work onto the men he'd practically raised from teens when he could avoid it. However it tore at him in ways he never would have expected all those years ago, to see Tsuna looking so lost. In a debate between having the boys kill and having Tsuna this upset, the boys would lose every time.

"Shhh…" Reborn murmured, holding him close. "I'm home now. If you weren't so tired, I'd take you right here, and not give a fuck if anyone saw us. You need something more than that, though." He combed his fingers through Tsuna's hair lovingly. "We'll go home; home to our room, our bed, where no one else is allowed to go."

Tsuna relaxed into him at his words and Reborn smiled against his skin in a way no one else would ever see, giving him a last, tight squeeze. Reluctantly releasing him, he tucked Tsuna into the passenger side of the car and drove him home. Tsuna fell asleep almost immediately as he pulled out of the Varia compound driveway, so he tugged him down to rest, his head settled on Reborn's thigh, letting him sleep the entire ride home. In the meantime, he fired off several text messages as he drove, making sure there would be no interruptions when he brought his lover in.

Arriving at the castle, he pulled into the large garage. Rather than waking Tsuna to walk in, he simply lifted him out of the car and carried him. A few palm print security plates and an eye scan later and he was deep within the compound and hundreds of feet underground. When Tsuna had finally agreed to leave Japan for Italy, Reborn had scouted this area of the Vongola estates and compound, and chosen it specifically for himself. He'd had the entire floor redone in Japanese style for Tsuna's comfort, but claimed it as his private residence. That kept the other children out of his territory and created a peaceful retreat for Tsuna as well as himself.

Of course he knew his lover intimately and realized that if he was out of the castle, the chances of Tsuna actually retreating from his Family to find some peace here was unlikely. The boy was as stubborn as every one of his predecessors, in that way. Tsuna was absolutely incapable of not chronically babying his Guardians through any sort of trauma, from hangnails to post-assassination regrets. If his Family needed him, he'd run himself ragged doing everything he could, to the neglect of his own well-being.

Toeing his shoes off at the entrance and dropping Tsuna's to join them, he carried Tsuna through the various rooms to their bedroom. This wasn't always where Tsuna slept when Reborn was away, as he had his own suite of rooms higher up and more available to others, but if Reborn was here, it was the only place Tsuna would sleep. Part of that was the dedication between the two of them and part of it was Reborn's inherent territorial instincts rearing up when he was home.

He could handle the sex that was a part of their Family and indulged in it himself when it caught his interest, but for him, Tsuna was everything and he knew Tsuna felt the same about him. It was something they'd come to understand almost a decade ago and neither had ever wavered in their commitment. Sex was a fun physical thing and love was an intense emotional thing, but what they had between them bordered almost on a spiritual connection. The Family itself had come up with the distinction between loving each other, and what it meant to be in love with someone. Everyone knew that Tsuna and Reborn were in love and respected that with a sanctity and admiration that was almost scary at times.

"Silly Tsuna," he scolded quietly, setting his lover down on the bed carefully. "I bet you were planning to get a lot of sleep the night before I came home so I wouldn't know how much you'd worn yourself out." He helped Tsuna out of his clothes again, tossing them towards the laundry hamper carelessly. "Don't think I don't know all of your tricks. I raised you, you know."

He tucked Tsuna into the bed, covering him snugly. Crouching down next to him, he ran loving fingers through all of that messy brown hair. The long drive home across so many cities and breaking so many traffic laws had been worth it to see Tsuna's smile when he woke to find him there. He dropped a last soft kiss on Tsuna's cheek before standing again, deciding to unpack before joining him. There was something he hated about leaving things undone. He'd unpack and settle in for a long nap with Tsuna. It was a perfect plan.

Of course, if plans always went the way they should, there'd be no need for people like Reborn in the world. There were times when even the sanctity of Reborn's space was violated, although it was rare. When Tsuna was unavailable and one of the Family was so hurt, so broken for some reason that they couldn't cope, they would turn to Reborn instinctively. After all, he'd had the raising of all of them, in the end. Tsuna was the boss, but Reborn was unquestionably the alpha amongst them. His willingness to bend to Tsuna's will and heel obediently gave the Family enormous strength and gave the Guardians a second pillar to lean on when they needed it. It also made it easier for the others to follow, knowing that someone as strong as Reborn followed Tsuna without a second thought.

So Reborn was surprised but not angry when, as he tossed the last of his dirty laundry into the hamper and set the empty bag down in the closet, he heard the soft chime alerting him to a presence at the elevator door of his floor. He didn't hesitate to answer, grabbing a pair of pants and simply sliding the bedroom door closed behind him to let Tsuna rest. It wasn't a convenient time but he also knew they weren't stupid, so something had to be wrong.

He did pause long enough to tug his slacks on, however. Tsuna had ordered him to stop answering the door naked after the incident involving Mama's visit to the estate and her curiosity about Reborn's rooms. Personally, Reborn thought Mama had enjoyed the view and he'd found her pink cheeks adorable. Still, an order from the boss was an order. He didn't bother putting anything else back on, however. So with a bare chest and bare feet and Leon draped around his neck, he slid open the front door by the elevator to see what sort of trouble he'd be dealing with.

Reborn wasn't actually too surprised to find Kyoya outside the door, being held up by Kusakabe. The second part was the more unusual. Normally if Kyoya came to him it was for a fight, to blow off steam, to let himself be at one with the monster inside of him. They both knew the best way to find peace with the beasts they were by nature was to spend time with someone similar. Reborn's ability to dominate Kyoya also gave the younger man an obstacle to challenge him, which Reborn enjoyed.

This interruption today was something different, however. Kyoya looked empty and unresponsive. Kyoya had snapped in the past, but only rarely. It almost always involved an injury to Tsuna that he'd overreacted to. The only other reason he could think of for this sort of reaction was something darker.

"Where has he been, Tetsu?" Reborn took Kyoya easily from him, carrying him into the living room and settling onto the couch with him. "I just got back this morning, stopped to pick up Tsuna at the Varia compound and returned here. I don't know what he's been up to in the past couple of days."

"The Foundation took on the contract Vongola declined, the retrieval of those kidnapped children." Tetsu followed him but remained standing in front of him, almost as if at attention. "Kyo-san left late last night to handle it. It wasn't very complex and he was back in a few hours with both children. The strange thing was that he dropped them in the nursery immediately. I had expected him to send someone to return them to their family. Then he locked himself in his rooms and asked not to be disturbed. I found him like this in the morning. He won't respond verbally and when we tried to knock him out for a while, he took out three guards before I gave up."

"There was a reason I declined that mission and never let it cross Tsuna's desk," Reborn said sharply, "and it wasn't because I don't care about stolen children. I'm not some cold-hearted bastard, you know." Settling into the corner of the enormous reclining couch that took up a third of his living room, he pulled Kyoya against him, settling him between his legs and lying against his chest. "Intel suggested it was a familial kidnapping. The risk of the Family being implicated or compromised, or worse, violence against the children, was too high to get involved in it."

"Kyo-san might have assumed it was declined for other reasons." Kusakabe couldn't speak to why his leader took which contracts, his job was simply to make sure that everything Kyoya needed, Kyoya got.

"That's because he's an idiot who thinks he knows better than other people," Reborn snarled, but his arms were kind as they wrapped around Kyoya. "Someday he'll figure out I don't turn things away out of whimsy."

"Is it all right to leave him with you, Reborn-san? I'd like to go follow up on the mission and see if I can find any information." Kusakabe looked nervous to even be in these rooms, much less forced to explain his boss's actions to one of the only two people Kyoya would actually listen to and possibly obey.

"Go," Reborn said gruffly. "I'll return him when he's right in the head again. I want to know everything you can find about what happened and why those kids are on the estate and not with the police. There has to be a reason he brought them here."

Kusakabe nodded obediently and left, sliding the door shut behind him. Shifting slightly, Reborn made sure they were both more comfortable, tucking Kyoya's head against his neck. He had a feeling they were going to be like this for a while. It would better if someone like Kyoya had his senses stimulated to return him to himself, rather than being forced to listen to someone talk. Scent was a fundamental trait and Kyoya knew his intimately. Reaching for the remote to the television, he flipped it on to scan the news and simply let the kid breathe him in, feel his arms around him and listen to his breathing and heartbeat.

It took fifteen minutes before he felt the muscles in Kyoya's back start to relax slightly and his shoulders slump. He slowly began running a hand along Kyoya's spine reassuringly and continued waiting, his eyes wandering over the financial reports before he chuckled. He'd made a tidy profit overnight on some information he'd overheard while out on his own assignment, enough to arrange a very nice vacation for Tsuna and buy him a few nice things as well.

A few minutes later he felt hands clenching on the fabric of his pants and Kyoya's breathing started to shift into something more stressed and irregular. Setting the remote aside for now, Reborn refocused his attention, his head moving down to nuzzle along Kyoya's neck. His hand never stopped its slow, regular movement along his back while the other wrapped around him again and held him tightly.

"Always testing the limits, aren't you, Kyoya?" he asked quietly, his cheek brushing along Kyoya's lightly. "Haven't I taught you to look before you leap by now? If you didn't trust Tsuna's judgment, you could have asked me. I would have told you the risks. I would have told you Tsuna never saw the dossier for this request because it was dirty."

He felt Kyoya shudder then, and neither of them would ever discuss the damp trails that moved down Reborn's chest in slow trickles. It was a silent understanding between warriors like the two of them. Everyone broke, but violating the privacy that came with the healing of that sort of damage was unheard of.

"Their parents, their family, did this to them," the whisper was almost inaudible against his skin, and Reborn rubbed his cheek against Kyoya's hair soothingly, encouraging him to continue. "They hadn't been fed for days, they were hurt, and still, they tried to stand in front of their parents and protect them. The same parents who had created this lie for money and were planning to kill them in the end."

"I suspected as much," Reborn said, continuing his soothing movements. "You brought the children here."

"When it was clear I wouldn't back down, their accomplices killed the parents and tried to flee." Kyoya was shaking now, in anger and grief. "I made sure they couldn't. Then there was a pull on my arm and I turned again, and almost took the head off the little girl."

"The little girl who is safely settled in the nursery?" He could see why Kyoya was so unbalanced now. There was nothing that would shock someone like them more than being pushed past their own ethical boundaries and almost betraying their own sense of self. Kyoya had his rules and not harming children was firmly near the top of that list.

"I destroyed the structure completely on my way out," Kyoya murmured, his body slowly relaxing again. "They'll assume the children died inside as well."

"Then you'll have to take responsibility for the two of them, won't you?" Reborn pulled him closer again and chuckled. "We'll find them a good family connected to the Family to love them and care for them. Mukuro, Chrome or Viper can alter their memories to help them adjust. What's important is that they're safe and that you stopped before you hurt her. You have to remember that. You stopped."

"I stopped," Kyoya repeated it a few times before life seemed to flow back into him slowly. His hands unclenched from Reborn's pants and slid around him instead, as he burrowed closer. "I did what I could to help them. I didn't fail."

"I will, however, be auditing your Foundation for the next two years for being so fucking stupid as to not ask me before taking this on," Reborn snarled softly against his ear, perfectly willing to assert his dominance now that the kid was back on his mental feet somewhat. "Tsuna may be only a decade or so behind me when it comes to this, but the rest of you have lifetimes before you catch up to me."

He expected Kyoya to protest, violently or not, but to his surprise, the kid's head lolled back and he offered his throat to Reborn. It was an absolute move of submission and Reborn blinked at him for a moment, dazed, before nodding in understanding. It wasn't that his oversight wouldn't be resented; it was that right now Kyoya didn't trust himself to make the right decisions.

"You're such a brat, sometimes," Reborn muttered, before leaning in and nipping roughly at his neck before soothing his bite with his tongue. "Just this once, and only this once, I'll give you something none of the others get. Open your damned mouth about it and I'll have you living in Siberia for a decade."

With that, he lifted Kyoya again easily enough and carried him into the bedroom. Sitting him on the corner of the bed, he stripped him methodically and tucked him into the middle of the bed, watching in amusement as Kyoya instinctively moved towards Tsuna, burrowing against his side. He shook his head as he tossed the clothing with all the rest and finally was able to get out of his slacks again. Nude, he sat on Tsuna's side for a moment and stroked his hair lightly.

"Mmm…" Tsuna's eyes blinked open blearily. "Reborn? Come to bed." He paused, finally noticing the warmth against his back and turning his head slightly. "Hm?"

"Kyoya did something very stupid. He was nice enough to apologize very sweetly to me so I thought I'd be nice, just this once." It left out all sorts of things, but Reborn knew that Tsuna would read between the words clearly enough. Tsuna's insight was exceptional, after all, and Reborn was the one who'd honed it.

"He must have apologized well, if he's not squirming around trying not to bitch that you raped him again," Tsuna said, smiling slightly.

"There's only one ass I want right now," Reborn replied, smirking lazily, "and that one is too tired to enjoy me properly. I'll wait like a good boy for once."

Tsuna smiled at him and shoved him lightly. "Get your ass in bed, old man. You look like you're going to tip over any minute now."

"I'll have you know I could go for hours still," Reborn grumbled, but he moved, sliding into the other side of the bed, wedging Kyoya between them snugly. "It's you kids who have no stamina."

"Is there anything vital I need to know?" Tsuna asked, wriggling his way around to face the two other men.

"We've got two kids in the nursery that we'll need to house eventually," Reborn yawned, tossing an arm over Kyoya fondly enough and curling around him. "Kyoya brought them back with him."

"Ah," Tsuna nodded and flicked Kyoya's forehead lightly. "You need to learn to ask about some things before just arbitrarily making decisions on your own. That's the point of having a Family. Still," he relented slightly and curled up with them again, "at least they'll find a good home here."

"So noisy," Kyoya muttered and was asleep a few breaths later, his cheeks still tinged pink.

"What do you want to bet he's gone before we wake up and never mentions this again?" Tsuna asked Reborn quietly, trying not to chuckle.

"I don't take suckers' bets," Reborn replied before tangling his hand with Tsuna's and drifting off to sleep as well, knowing that Tsuna would follow quickly. He was fairly sure as he dreamed that he heard Tsuna muttering about stubborn men and bossy bastards, but he figured he was talking about Kyoya.

When Reborn woke again, it was almost noon and Kyoya was, indeed gone. Reborn glanced over at the door and noticed the note pinned in the frame. He guessed the kid had borrowed one of the yukata Reborn kept around and slipped out when he woke. Making a mental note to check on him again later in the day, Reborn rolled over in search of Tsuna, arm stretching out along the bed until he was able to catch enough of his lover to pull him tightly against his body. He'd let him sleep long enough.

Tsuna protested lightly but was actually awake by the time Reborn wrapped around him. Blinking up at him with those large brown eyes, he grinned in amusement. His arms slid around Reborn warmly and he wriggled even closer.

"I'm surprised you lasted this long," he teased, stretching up to nip along his neck. "Kyoya was up and out a couple of hours ago. Of course, he climbed over me instead of you to get out."

"Smart brat," Reborn commented before sliding a hand down Tsuna's back and over his ass possessively. "If he'd woken me, I might have made him watch."

Groaning at the twisted mind Reborn had always had, Tsuna wrapped a leg around his hip encouragingly. It seemed like ages and not less than a week since they'd had time alone together. He wasn't about to spend it talking about other people if he could avoid it. Instead, he licked along the line of Reborn's jaw and bit his earlobe.

"You can watch in the mirror, if that makes you feel better," Tsuna teased, hips arching forward to rub against him slowly. "But if I don't get to have you soon, Reborn, your boss is going to be very unhappy with you."

"Can't have that, can we?" Reborn replied, leaning in to steal a kiss from him, savoring it slowly. "Keeping the boss happy is my number one job, after all. You put that on my last performance review."

Tsuna laughed and pushed at his shoulders, rolling him onto his back before straddling his hips. "That's because you set speed limits on all of my bikes and cars and didn't tell me. Not because I thought you needed to put out more. Although," he paused and grinned, "you can always put out a bit more."

"I put those limits on after I practically peeled you off that mountain cliff," Reborn reminded him, looking grumpy but unable to maintain it as Tsuna shifted over him, rubbing slowly against him. "But I'm always willing to be inside you."

Proving his point, he slid a hand under the pillows and emerged with the lubricant, smirking lightly as he handed it to Tsuna. "I think driving home all night just to be there when you wake up has earned me the right to watch you do this."

The wicked gleam in Tsuna's eye as he took the small bottle was answer enough. A flick of the cap and before Reborn could even catch another breath his lungs seized as Tsuna reached back to press a finger into himself, his back arching and his head falling back at the sensation. By the time Reborn figured out how to breathe again, Tsuna moaned softly, hips shifting slightly to rub against Reborn before pressing back onto his own finger.

"Fuck, Tsuna,'' Reborn gasped, his eyes glazing at the sight.

No matter how often they were together and how often he took Tsuna, things like this always left him dazed and breathless. Even when he'd figured out how attached Tsuna was to him as a teenager, he'd barely been able to hope that he'd wake up most days to things like this. It wasn't just the erotic sight of seeing Tsuna prepare himself, although the writhing, moaning, shuddering mass he was quickly becoming was beyond erotic, it was that his Tsuna wanted him so much.

"Reborn," Tsuna moaned, looking down at him with scorching eyes, "pay attention when I'm spoiling you."

Grinning at him, Reborn stole the lubricant back and stretched up, kissing him deeply as an apology, although his mind hadn't wandered far from the Tsuna of here and now. Before the kiss broke, he was slicked and ready for Tsuna and the bottle was sliding off the side of the bed to the floor. It was never good to keep his Tsuna waiting for too long.

"That's more like it," Tsuna said, before lowering himself onto Reborn's cock eagerly, his hands fisting in the sheets as he focused on taking his time.

Knowing that he wanted the slow burn of the stretch and the scorching heat of Reborn sliding into him, Reborn held still for him, although he couldn't stay quiet. The sounds Reborn made when he did this just made it better for Tsuna. It was one of the few times when Reborn would really lose control of his voice, and his soft cry of pleasure echoed through the room. He knew that Tsuna loved the way his hands clenched on Tsuna's hips, not to pull him down but to help hold him steady as he moved at his own pace.

By the time Tsuna had taken him in fully, Reborn was a panting, moaning mess of a man, fighting his instinctive need to roll Tsuna and bury himself in that tight, hot body over and over again. This, too, was part of what he reveled in with their relationship, that Tsuna could control him so easily when he wanted to. He'd never thought anyone could leash him fully until he'd met this boy.

Tsuna stopped then, stilling over him and smiling down at him with that look. It was full of love, need and absolute ownership and it turned Reborn on in ways he could never explain. His Tsuna knew very well that he held Reborn's leash in his hands and that Reborn reveled in that fact. He belonged to Tsuna completely and it sated him in ways he would never have expected. Control strained by the look Tsuna was giving him, Reborn's hands tightened on Tsuna's hips, hard enough to leave marks for days.

"Please, Tsuna," he panted, looking up at him with pleading eyes, "you're killing me here. Move, Tsuna, I need you to move."

He would never know where Tsuna gained the extraordinary control that allowed him to keep his hips almost perfectly still while he leaned down and kissed Reborn. It was a searing kiss that strained his own control even further and he felt himself lifting up to follow Tsuna's lips without a second thought. Who cared about being calm and cool when he could be kissing Tsuna?

"I love seeing you like this," Tsuna said, nipping at Reborn's bottom lip playfully. "I love watching you fight me and fight me and then finally surrender. I love the way you try to escape me when all you really want to do is lose yourself in me."

"I'll always be yours," Reborn promised him, for the millionth time, always willing to say it again. "Nothing will ever take me from your side, Tsuna. I'd kill anyone that tried. You are everything."

"I love you, Reborn," Tsuna whispered against his mouth, licking Reborn's swollen bottom lip. "I would kill anyone who tried to take you, myself. You wouldn't have to do a thing. I'd tear this world apart to keep you here with me."

It was the fearsome truth in that statement that pushed Reborn to the brink and he moved in a flash, the sound of his control snapping almost audible. He rolled them both, pinning Tsuna to the bed and burying a hand in his hair to hold his head down as he kissed him. As he invaded Tsuna's mouth his hips began to move, driving into Tsuna roughly. He knew what Tsuna would do to protect him, had seen it, and it set his brain and body on fire with need for him.

Reality faded into a buzz of white noise around them as Reborn focused completely on Tsuna. Every minute shift of his body, every touch, every kiss was deliberately designed to make Tsuna moan and scream for him. Nothing mattered more than mapping every shiver, twitch and soft sound his lover gave him to memorize for future reference. Even after all these years there was always something more to know.

"R-reborn," Tsuna moaned, his face flushed and covered in sweat, "please, Reborn…" He loved it when Tsuna reached the point of begging like that. "I can't take it anymore…"

As always, he surrendered to Tsuna, his fingers reaching down to dance along Tsuna's cock in a light, tickling counterpoint to the deep, hard thrusts of his hips. A few more thrusts, the teasing touch and a bite to the side of Tsuna's neck and his lover was lost, hands digging painfully into Reborn's shoulders as he peaked, spilling out over his stomach in hot waves. It was only when Tsuna was shuddering and babbling beneath him that Reborn finally let go fully and buried himself in Tsuna a last time, spilling into him as his body shook.

They clung to each other as they trembled and panted and fought to find sanity again. Reborn wound his arms tightly around Tsuna eventually and rolled again, settling him over his body. With long, lazy strokes of his hand he rubbed his lover's back, soothing him into relaxing fully. He loved this part almost as much as the sexual connection, but this was more spiritual. He seemed to instinctively know what Tsuna needed afterwards to make him happy.

"That almost made up for one hour of the time you were away," Tsuna finally said, teasing him as he nuzzled against Reborn's neck. "But you still have several days to make up for before you're off the hook."

"I'll have to do my best then," Reborn replied, his other hand going to Tsuna's hair to run through it slowly. "I can't have my Tsuna being unhappy, now can I?" It bode well for the rest of the day and Reborn hid a smirk against Tsuna's shoulder at the thought. There were definite upsides to his stint as a home tutor in the end.

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*Title translates to "From the sky to the center".


	15. Chapter XII: Aut pax aut bellum

**Chapter XII: Aut pax aut bellum (Vongola Estate / Venice, Italy / Present Day)**

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**A/N:** And now we return to your regularly scheduled chapters. No sex here, only hints of it.

By sunrise the next morning, Tsuna had spent hours closeted with the Ninth, reviewing the newly acquired information his returned memories had provided him. There was much he chose to keep to himself for now, but several of the memories prompted him to make a few additional decisions while still in Italy. It had cost him a great deal of effort to sneak out of Mukuro's room and past Reborn without waking either of them and he made good use of the time he'd bought himself in doing so.

Soon after leaving the Ninth to make arrangements for him, Tsuna pulled Shouichi and Spanner out of Hayato's bed ruthlessly, ignoring the whining and complaining of all three tired teenagers. He watched them scramble for clothing around the floor, which was fairly entertaining when the fight over just whose jeans which pair were broke out. By the time everyone was not naked, he was leaning against the wall and tapping his foot impatiently while hiding a grin.

"Hayato," he said, shaking his head slightly, "I need you to watch the kids until I get back. Bianchi will probably be tied up with Lancia-san all day again. At least I hope she will be. Keep them from blowing up anything or starting any sort of mafia war, all right?"

"Sure, boss," Hayato nodded cheerfully enough, heading out the door to retrieve Futa and Lambo with a wave over his shoulder at them. "Later."

His good mood told Tsuna all he needed to know about how much fun his friends had the night before. The only way he'd have accepted a morning of babysitting so cheerfully was if whatever they'd gotten up to last night had been that damned good. Tsuna frowned at the remaining two of them grumpily.

"Damn you all," Tsuna muttered grumpily, slumping against the wall further, shoulders slouching sadly. "You're a bunch of lucky bastards. No one's watching you all the time. I get lectured and the three of you get laid. Tell me how that's fair."

"Poor Tsuna-san," Shouichi tried to console him by patting him on the shoulder and smiling at him warmly. It was an unnatural gift that he used when he practically sparkled and gleamed at his boss.

"That look should be illegal," Spanner muttered, leaning on the wall next to Tsuna. "Shou-chan, you've got him hypnotized again with your sparkly evil. Cut it out or we'll never be able to get to work."

Tsuna had to admit he was a bit hypnotized as he gazed back at Shouichi, blushing lightly. He was fairly sure he saw bat wings and horns appear on his friend as the smile turned to a grin. Yes, it was possible that Shouichi was the devil, after all. He was just a really cute one.

"I have to agree," Tsuna muttered. "You could take over the world that way, Shouichi."

"I already did once, for the most part," Shouichi teased him, before grabbing his backpack. "My stomach can't handle the stress and the paperwork sucked."

"Bad joke! Bad joke!" Tsuna and Spanner echoed each other at him, shaking their heads.

Mustering his sanity, Tsuna led the two out of the room and down to where the Ninth's representative was waiting for them. Nodding respectfully, Tsuna gestured for the older man to lead the way. Today was the day they were going to see the space allotted for the project he'd given Shouichi and Spanner and that would keep them in Italy after Tsuna and the others left.

They walked for what seemed like forever through hallways, random secured doorways, past security checkpoints and on and on. Tsuna was beginning to be grateful for all the training Reborn put him through to build his stamina. He'd had no idea of the enormous size of the Vongola compound that existed underneath the estate above. It reminded him of the base in the future Japan only on a much grander scale. While he was impressed by the size, there was something else that started bothering him almost right away.

Once again, Tsuna found himself being stared at constantly, in various ways along their walk. Unlike the morning before, Tsuna wasn't focused enough to tune them out and he was grumpy enough and out of sorts enough that it was really starting to piss him off. He'd fought for his place as the heir to the Family and he'd risked the health and minds of his best friends in the process. The Sky ring had accepted him, and not any other heir. He was fighting hard now, going against every promise he'd made himself about what he would find acceptable, to protect these people, and all they could do was glare at him because he wasn't someone else.

His temper finally started to spark after what seemed like the hundredth glare that bordered on disrespect, and Tsuna's fists clenched in his pockets. He could feel his control slipping and he struggled with it. This was his Family, even these rude, irritating people. He was supposed to protect them, not beat the hell out of them. Shouichi and Spanner were catching on to his mood quickly, which showed him just how much his control was slipping as they moved to surround him, each taking a side to try to block the looks. Even their guide was looking twitchy by now.

It took one last look from someone lingering in the hallway and Tsuna snapped. He was about to open his mouth when a hand thumped down on his shoulder from behind, grasping it firmly. It was a familiar hand, or he probably would have fed it to its owner at that point. Instead, he tilted his head up and back slightly, raising an eyebrow curiously.

"What the hell are you doing all the way over here on this side of the compound, shrimp?" Definitely familiar, as there was only one person Tsuna knew of that was this obsessed with commenting on his size.

"I really, really hope I grow into Dad's genetics," Tsuna muttered, glaring up and backwards at Xanxus grumpily. "Then I'll be able to look you in the eye when I kick your ass into next week, instead of your shoulders."

Xanxus laughed at that, startling everyone around them. In fact, he laughed so hard his head fell back as he had to lean against the wall for support and hold his stomach. Tsuna sighed and resigned himself to watching the older man laugh at him. Xanxus had broken Tsuna's bad mood somewhat, which he knew was probably deliberate. While he knew the Varia leader had no problem with a well-timed and entertaining brawl in any location, he and Tsuna both agreed that it was more entertaining to fight with people who were worth the effort.

More importantly, Tsuna knew that Xanxus wouldn't have sought him out for a purely social reason, which meant he'd either run into them by accident, or he'd been sent to find Tsuna. The fact that he hadn't insulted Tsuna and gone on his way meant he'd been looking for Tsuna. There was only one person Tsuna could think of who could send Xanxus out to find him, and that was the Ninth. So Tsuna sighed and waited for him to calm down again.

"I love you too, Xanxus," Tsuna grumbled, rubbing his forehead," but really, it's a Romeo and Juliet kind of thing, you know. It'll never work out. We're just too different and we'd end up killing each other by accident, and then where would the Vongola be? What would happen to our precious Family?"

Xanxus was wheezing with laughter by now, but at least the people who'd been glaring at Tsuna earlier were now thoroughly confused. Once again, Tsuna's estimation of Xanxus' intelligence rose. It was a clever distraction to keep Tsuna from blowing his top and he'd lured Tsuna right into it without any effort at all. He was fairly certain Xanxus was a genius in his own right.

"The old man asked me to find you and take you to the Cervello," Xanxus finally said, straightening up from the wall. "He said you had things to discuss with them. Unfortunately you're an early rising bitch and it took me a while to track you down."

"Oh, yeah," Tsuna nodded to him and turned to Spanner and Shouichi. "You two go on ahead. Giannini and his father should be waiting for you. They'll show you the space we've been allocated for the project. Once you have measurements, get a supply list going as quickly as possible, and prioritize what you'll need. They'll arrange for the ordering of materials for you. I'll be there as soon as I can, but I have to take care of this for Grandfather."

They both nodded in agreement, and Shouichi moved over to him for a moment to rest his hand on Tsuna's shoulder again. "I'm sorry about this, Tsuna-san."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Shouichi," Tsuna reassured him, smiling. "I'll take care of it. I'm leaving the really complicated stuff to you."

With that, he turned back to Xanxus and nodded. "Let's go then. I'd like to get this over with quickly."

When Xanxus started walking, Tsuna followed him, staying behind him for now. He enjoyed watching Xanxus move, so hanging back was fine with him. There was something about the way he moved that Tsuna envied, an inherent and dangerous grace that Tsuna still lacked as he worked his way through his teenage years. It was like watching a lion prowl on one of those nature documentaries.

"Stop staring at my ass, Sawada," Xanxus growled at him without looking back. "I don't do kids, and there's no way you'll ever be man enough to try me."

"Can't blame a guy for looking," Tsuna teased, his mood somewhat cheered. "It's nice to see something new every now and then. I think Reborn was wrong the other night, though. You don't have a girlish figure. You just need to eat more or something."

"So the rumors are true? You're fucking all your Guardians? Never thought you'd have the balls for it, brat," Xanxus sounded slightly curious, for all of his supposed indifference.

"Wh-what the hell?!" Tsuna froze where he stood and turned bright red. "Who the hell is talking about things like that?! I am not having sex with anyone, much less them! There's a big difference between a little healthy teenage exploration with friends and having Family orgies!" He paused and caught his breath. "Although I'm pretty sure some of them are already having sex with each other. I pulled Hayato, Shouichi and Spanner out of the same bed this morning, butt naked."

"So what you're saying is that you're the virgin of the group?" Xanxus snorted in amusements. "Are you sure you shouldn't get some of those testosterone treatments, Sawada?"

"What's wrong with being a virgin?" Tsuna snarled at him, which Xanxus apparently found hilarious because he started laughing again. He waited until the laughing stopped before continuing. "I just don't want to rush into something like that without thinking about it, plus there're the potential complications."

"You're worried about infighting if you pick one over the others?" Xanxus asked, finally resuming their walk and sounding like he had some sort of understanding of the situation.

"That'd be one of those complications, yes," Tsuna nodded at him and moved forward to walk next to him, matching his stride. "But if I picked outside of the Family, the person I picked would be in for a world of pain when they found out."

"Pick someone they won't have the balls to start a fight with, then," Xanxus recommended as they turned down another random corridor and reached an ornate set of doors. "Here. Try not to get lost on your way back. It'd be embarrassing to have to send out a search party for you." With that, he opened one of the doors and shoved Tsuna through it before closing it again.

Tsuna looked around the space in front of him and blinked. Part of him just stopped and stared while the other wondered if this was what a whorehouse would look like if run by bankers. The Cervello offices were decorated in black, white and pink. While tasteful, it fried a little part of Tsuna's brain to see that much pink in a mafia stronghold.

"Sawada-sama?" The soft, feminine voice came from behind the reception desk directly in front of him.

Looking up quickly, he sighed internally at the sight of yet another girl with pink hair and a mask. He really didn't get the whole "we are all one and the same" philosophy that the Cervello women seemed to hold to. It was creepy and odd. Still, given the strange traditions the Vongola had, it wasn't like Tsuna could complain.

"Sawada-sama," this time the voice held a tinge of humor as the girl stood and smiled slightly, "your meeting is down the hall. I'll take you to the conference room."

Shaking his head ruefully at himself, Tsuna followed her. She led him down another hallway and into a dark, formal conference room that thankfully had a hell of a lot less pink in it. Looking around the large conference table, he saw several additional women, all with pink hair, and a couple of men that looked almost normal. Nodding his thanks to his guide, he took the seat left empty for him and settled in. The door clicked quietly behind her as she left.

Looking at the women and men in front of him, Tsuna focused on the task at hand, frowning without realizing it. He'd always been leery of the Cervello, ever since the battle for the Vongola rings. Now, however, he knew why he'd avoided them so determinedly over the past two years. His memory threw up images of their betrayal and complicity in what had happened to his Family that made Tsuna's blood boil as he watched them.

The Cervello had turned to the Millefiore and assisted in the Vongola hunts in the future. They'd threatened Tsuna and his Family directly and almost killed them all. With those memories fresh and raw in his mind now, he had almost no control over his temper and he felt it slip again. He couldn't control the surge of killing intent that flowed from him as the memories replayed in his mind, looping again and again.

"Sawada-sama?" The voice came from one of the women to his right, and he turned to look at her with eyes he knew were full of fire. "Have we offended in some way? We exist to serve the Vongola. If we've displeased you, please let us rectify this immediately."

"If that's true," Tsuna growled softly, looking around the table at each of them with his burning gaze, "then tell me how, ten years from now, I saw the Cervello serving another master and hunting the Vongola to their death. Tell me why I stood and watched the Cervello threaten me with the lives of my Guardians, even the children, perfectly willing to poison them. I question your loyalty, as does the Ninth, based on the evidence of my own experiences."

He could feel the heat from his hands scorching the table where they rested, burning his fury into the wood even without his gloves, and he knew his Sky ring was on fire. There was nothing, in his mind, that could justify that sort of betrayal to one's Family. Even though his mind was full of similar stories of betrayal and pain from the future now, there was something inherently loyal about Tsuna that made him incapable of accepting it the way that Yuni or Aria-san might, for example.

It consoled and calmed him somewhat to see the horrified looks being passed around the table as what Tsuna said sank in. A few of the women actually started to shed silent tears. That would mean nothing to him, however, if the Cervello didn't sort themselves out and prevent this betrayal from happening.

"These are your orders, Cervello," Tsuna said, meeting each of their eyes directly for a moment. "Clean your house and do it well. Do it now. Miss nothing and examine everything. Be thorough, because if I ever see any hint of betrayal, any sign that what I saw and experienced in the future may actually come to be again, I will clean your house for you and it will be brutal. There will be no forgiveness."

They all nodded then, understanding clearly that failure to obey would mean absolute destruction. He could only hope that whatever taint brought this smaller Family to that sort of betrayal would be purged now that they were aware of its existence. What surprised him was when several of the women stood and moved over to him before sinking to their knees before him and bowing in apology. They moved in absolute unison, and he noticed that most of them were crying silently.

"Sawada-sama," one of them spoke, her voice rough with emotion, "we cannot say what might have brought such a thing about, but having been warned now, we will make sure it does not happen. It is our destiny to serve the Vongola and to be sheltered within their overarching protection. To think such a betrayal has happened is horrifying. Rest assured; we will deal with this."

"Then I'll leave it to you to do what needs to be done," Tsuna said, standing now. "As long as Cervello remains loyal, I will protect you from all harm, even if it costs me my life. I can only ask the same of you all in return."

"Sawada-sama," one of the younger women caught his sleeve and he glanced down at her curiously. "Please forgive us for what you may have suffered at our hands, due to our foolishness. We can only imagine what you may have seen to bring your gentle spirit so much pain and anger. To think that the actions of our Family could have risked the kindness you've shown so many is terrible."

"If what happened can be prevented, then there is nothing to forgive," Tsuna told her, catching her hand gently with his own and smiling at her. His smile widened when she blushed up at him.

"Thank you all for your time today," he said, bowing slightly to them all as he released her hand. "I hope I get to see more of you while I'm here, but I do have other tasks I have to handle today as well. If things go well in your investigations, perhaps we can arrange for a more permanent Cervello escort while I remain in Japan." It would be a true sign of favor if he allowed that to happen, he knew, and it was a good carrot to dangle in front of them.

As he was escorted out, Tsuna felt another knot in his soul start to unwind and relief surged through him. Passing through those ornate doors again, he believed that maybe another of those nightmares that haunted him would vanish now. It all depended on the Cervello and their loyalty, however. Even with his knowledge of the future, he could only do so much.

It took him the better part of half an hour to find Shouichi and Spanner, with help from one of the Ninth's elderly aides, who caught up with him in the hallway. The old man regaled Tsuna with tales of his young mafia life in the forties and fifties in Italy, leaving out no detail if he could avoid it. Tsuna had a great deal of fun listening to him, and was grateful that his thoughtful grandfather had sent the older man to him.

"These are the sorts of stories," Tsuna mused aloud, "that should be written down somewhere, even if only so the Family can read them."

"You're too kind," the older man told him, smiling warmly at him as well. "I can see why Timoteo likes you so much. You're very much like he was, when he was younger. You have the same heart."

Tsuna blushed then, flattered beyond belief. "Now you're being kind. I think I've probably caused Grandfather and Reborn both a lot of trouble they weren't expecting. I'm lucky they chose to keep working on me instead of giving up."

"I have to admit that we were all surprised when he sent Reborn to you, and that Reborn chose to stay so long. It seems to have worked out for the best, however." With that, the older man gestured Tsuna through a doorway.

Shouichi and Spanner were in a heated discussion with Giannini and his father, laptops, pens and tape measures gesturing madly. Tsuna shook his head in amusement before nodding his thanks to his guide and making his way over to them. He ducked a pen, a pencil, two notebooks and a tape measure before reaching them.

"There's nothing like a bunch of geniuses to make weapons out of everyday materials," he said ruefully, catching another pen as it flew. "But is it productive, all this arguing?"

All four blinked at him in surprise before Shouichi smiled warmly and answered him. "We're not arguing, Tsuna-san. We're debating logistics. I don't know why you'd think we weren't all getting along."

"It might have to do with that tape measure that almost knocked a few IQ points out of me," Tsuna muttered, shaking his head. "You all have your specifications, right?"

When they nodded at him, he was relieved. "Then all I can do is remind all of you that this is top secret. You discuss this only with myself, Grandfather and each other. When Mukuro is on his feet again, you can bring him into the loop as well, although he already has a good idea of what's coming. Shamal will be arriving in the next few days, but he won't be needed until your guest arrives, which will be a few weeks yet."

He paused, looking at each of them intently. "The future of our Family rides on this working, so be thorough and don't miss anything."

They all nodded at him again, and he could see their brains spinning as they started forming plans. Deciding it would do his poor brain no good to listen in, he left them there to work. He had to have faith in their ability to build something strong enough to hold what he wanted to store there.

Reassured that things were going smoothly, he headed back to his guest suite. If he was fast and stealthy, he might even be able to get a nap in before anyone caught on that he wasn't tied up with something somewhere in the estate or base below it. Given how much he'd been running around since arriving, the thought of a nap seemed like heaven to Tsuna.

It took some clever maneuvering but he did manage to make it back to his rooms and slip inside without being caught, much to his relief. Kicking off his shoes, he turned towards the bed as he started pulling his shirt off, only to freeze and then grin. Lying on the bed and happily snoozing was Reborn. Shaking his head, Tsuna tossed his shirt onto a chair and stripped down to his boxers before sprawling out on the bed next to him, grabbing a pillow to wrap his arms around. Before long, both were happily asleep, tucked away from the world peacefully for at least a little while.

* * *

*Title translates to "Either peace or war".


	16. Chapter XIII: Experientia docet stultos

**Chapter XIII: Experientia docet stultos (Vongola Estate / Venice, Italy / Current Day)**

* * *

It was harder than Tsuna had expected to start packing everyone up and prepare to head back to Japan. The kids were the easiest to work with, as they'd been away from Mama for close to two weeks and for them that came close to being unbearable. Convincing Chrome to leave Mukuro's side was an entirely different matter and he'd finally had to beg Mukuro silently with his eyes to put his foot down and send her home. As much as he appreciated her loyalty to Mukuro, things weren't going to be all that safe in the compound in the next few weeks and he wanted her somewhere far away from all of that.

Pulling Hayato away from his playmates would have been hard if it hadn't been so funny at the same time. Promising him that Shouichi and Spanner would be following them back in a few weeks seemed to do the trick in the end, but the pouting and sulking had been fantastically done. Tsuna made sure to make notes of all of it to use to torment Hayato when they were all old and boring and sitting around bitching about the young and energetic.

He was surprised when Bianchi opted to stay a while longer in Italy, rather than returning with them. To be honest, he'd expected her to rebound from the time spent with Lancia-san by clinging to Reborn like glue for the rest of their trip, but they'd actually seen very little of her. It had him wondering exactly how successful his plans might have been, and if things were moving faster for the two than he'd hoped. So he crossed his fingers, kissed her on the cheek and prayed that her delay had everything to do with wanting to spend more time with the young man in question.

The easiest and hardest part was telling Reborn, all at the same time. He'd spent the past two weeks avoiding private time with his tutor as much as humanly possible and while it seemed like Reborn had taken it in stride, Tsuna knew that wasn't so. There was something nagging at him intuitively, telling him that this last full day in Italy was a day he needed to spend with the person who was closest to him.

Strapping some steel to his spine, he went hunting for Reborn, looking all over the public areas of the estate for his tutor. His mood sank and his frown grew as he searched room after room and wing after wing with no luck at all. Maybe this was a bad idea and Reborn was avoiding him now, which would really only serve him right for dodging him the entire time. Still, something inside Tsuna refused to give in and give up.

Instead, Tsuna finally stopped and forced himself to calm down and relax. There was no point in frantically searching and wearing himself out. There were other ways to search. Rather than looking outward, he focused inward. Years of bonding, training and understanding connected him to Reborn at a level he still didn't understand. What he knew was that somehow Reborn could find him anywhere, and so Tsuna should be able to do the same in return.

Focusing on that link, that soul-deep connection between them, allowed him to calm down and relax further. Once he had it in his mental "hands", he simply allowed himself to feel it and let it tug at him, pulling him instinctively through the estate at a steady pace until he stopped in front of a strange landscape painting on the wall in front of him in a dark, abandoned corner of a neglected and empty wing.

It was certainly of a different style than many of the others he'd seen along his walk through the castle. While the others were classical and depicted all sorts of landscapes, events and people, this one was fiery and bright. It was full of such bright yellows and reds that it took Tsuna moment to realize what the landscape was of, and then he grinned slowly. It was appropriate, to say the least. It took Tsuna another minute or two to find the hidden catch on the painting and swing it open, granting him access to the rooms hidden behind it.

"Trust you, Reborn," Tsuna said as he climbed through the secret door and closed it behind him, smiling fondly at the Arcobaleno who was toasting his feet by the fire in an armchair, a mug of espresso in his hand. "Trust you to stash yourself away behind a landscape of the sun, of all things."

He was sure he saw a smirk of victory and approval slide across Reborn's face as his tutor glanced at him briefly before turning back to the fire, practically ignoring him. Apparently tracking Reborn down was something he should be proud of. Now he just needed to work on the whole being forgiven for being a jerk part of the issue. Starting the best way he knew how, he moved over to settle onto the floor next to Reborn's chair, resting his head against the arm of it. It never hurt to put himself in a submissive position when offering apologies to his temperamental tutor.

"So, I've been a real ass the past couple of weeks," he started, watching the fire burn in front of them. "I got caught up in things that needed to be done and rather than trying to explain myself, I thought it would be easier to just avoid answering questions at all. In my enthusiasm to protect and take care of the Family, I forgot one of the primary rules you always try and teach me. I need to remember to rely on the Family as much as it will need to rely on me."

Reborn looked over at him then, his eyes dark and thoughtful. "You're playing dangerous games, Tsuna. How can I plan well enough to keep you safe if I don't know what sort of mess you're getting yourself into?"

"The days when I could worry about being safe and happy all the time are gone, Reborn," Tsuna replied, sighing softly. "Everything is going to start changing now. All I can hope for is that you'll trust in me enough to be patient until I can tell you everything you want to know."

"Tsuna…" Reborn turned fully to face him and Tsuna blinked in surprise. Reborn looked worried, something Tsuna never expected to see. "Things are dangerous enough as they were. What is so important that you have to put yourself at risk and hide things from me?"

"You are," Tsuna answered without a moment's hesitation, resting his chin on the top of the arm of the chair and looking up at him earnestly. "Everyone else is too, but especially you. You're someone precious that I need to protect."

"Don't you think you're a little young to be worrying about protecting me, Tsuna?" Reborn teased him, but Tsuna could see him relenting and the silent decision his tutor made to let things be for now. He didn't assume for a minute that he was off the hook, however. Reborn would simply try to find things out in his own way, and he had many ways of gathering information.

"I'm a little young to worry about anything, according to you, Mom, Dad and everyone else," Tsuna shot back, before taking a swipe at Reborn's espresso, desperate for some caffeine now that he'd made peace with Reborn. He missed, of course, thanks to a small shift of Reborn's arm. "I've just decided that I can't keep waiting until I'm old enough. The world's not waiting on me to grow up, after all. The longer I play around at being an ordinary kid, the longer the Family has to wait and worry about what might happen next."

"You're starting to sound like a real boss these days, Tsuna," Reborn told him, smugly sipping at his espresso, "a baby boss, but a boss nonetheless. I don't know whether to be proud or feel old."

"Can I vote for just not kicking me in the head as often?" Tsuna asked him, his eyes latched on the mug greedily. "Because I'm pretty sure one of these days you're going to do real brain damage and my life will devolve to finger painting and snack time for the rest of my life."

"You're head is too hard for you to need to worry about that," Reborn shot back, arm moving casually as Tsuna's hand lashed out in another attempt to steal the mug from him, making Tsuna miss by barely a hair. "But I'm sure I can come up with some sort of reward for you."

Glumly giving up on getting himself any coffee this morning, Tsuna looked around the hidden room curiously. Much like the rooms he'd been given when they'd arrived, there was a large fireplace surrounded by a sitting area, with doors leading off in various directions. He was dying to know what was behind those doors, especially in such an abandoned part of the castle. Had Reborn taken over these rooms as a hideout for himself? Was he just taking advantage of a quiet corner of the castle to avoid Tsuna as punishment for being such an ass?

"Reborn, where are we exactly?" Tsuna asked him, curiosity winning out over his need to discuss other things with his tutor. "I wasn't paying much attention on my way here."

"This is my suite," Reborn told him quietly. "It's been mine for a very long time."

"But…" Tsuna paused, wanting to get his mind in order before he started asking questions. "Why is this whole wing abandoned then? Why is everything out there so run down and empty, Reborn?"

"Well, there are a lot of long, old stories I'd have to tell you to really answer that, Tsuna," Reborn hopped off his chair and moved over to one of the doors, gesturing for Tsuna to follow him. "I'm not sure I'm ready to share those with you yet, so I guess the best answer is simply that I don't live here anymore and haven't for a long time. But when I did call this home, this was my space."

Opening the door, Reborn stepped through and flicked on the lights in the other room. Tsuna blinked in surprise when he realized how antiquated the lighting system was in the room Reborn led him into. After taking a look around, he realized how old everything in the bedroom was. Tsuna had expected something from the so-called "old days" of the mafia, but this was practically turn-of-the-century antique.

Everything in the room had an overwhelmingly masculine feel to it, as if the sheer strength and power Tsuna knew existed inside his tutor radiated from every personal belonging in the room. It sent a shiver down his spine, not of fear but of absolute, soul-deep appreciation. What he was feeling was the power of the person who had chosen to teach, guide and protect him. There was no way he was going to be afraid of that.

"Reborn," Tsuna whispered softly, looking around the room with wide eyes, "how long have you been cursed like this?" He knew he shouldn't ask and that it was inappropriate and rude. He couldn't help himself, though, because there was something inside him that was angry at the thought of anyone taking someone like Reborn and trying to shove them into something more controllable, which was how he saw the curse the Arcobaleno carried.

"Let's just say I've seen a few bosses come and go now, Tsuna," Reborn replied, looking around the room with sad eyes, his fingers petting Leon slowly where he rested on Reborn's wrist.

"Is that why there are no pictures of you here?" Tsuna asked, moving through the room quietly and examining everything. He was surprised that he didn't feel like he was invading Reborn's private space. On the other hand, he'd been invited into this room by Reborn, so he could only assume that he was welcome, and that his tutor wanted him to see what he kept here.

"There are no pictures because I destroyed all of them a long time ago," was Reborn's reply. "There didn't seem to be any point in keeping them around, when it became obvious that the curse wasn't going to pass any time soon."

The room itself was spotless, Tsuna realized, and then came the realization that while he was handling the things he wanted to hide from Reborn, his tutor had been here, cleaning this space from top to bottom for some unknown reason. Moving over to the door that he thought probably led to the bath attached to the suite, he looked to Reborn for permission before opening it, which he received with a silent nod. Walking into the attached bath, he smiled fondly at the sight of what had to be the various tools that Reborn had used to take care of those sideburns of his, amongst other things.

Nodding thoughtfully to himself, Tsuna did the only thing he could think of to help lessen the pain of the memories held in these rooms, which was to make new ones. He could only assume that's why Reborn had allowed him to come into these rooms at all. After all, Reborn had even cleaned them top to bottom. The tools sitting out in the bathroom gave him the plan he needed.

"I still owe you a haircut, Reborn," Tsuna said, pulling a couple of towels from the shelf in the bathroom and picking up scissors, comb and a brush before heading back out to the bedroom. "I saved all of today to spend with you, if you wanted to, before we have to go home. So I'd like to keep my promise, if you don't mind."

Reborn looked at him thoughtfully for a few long moments before nodding his agreement. Tsuna settled himself on the bed facing the dresser and it's tall, masculine mirror and spread a towel over his lap before grinning at Reborn and patting his lap. He took the thwack to the side of the head in good grace, because Reborn settled onto his lap facing the mirror after punishing him appropriately.

Taking Reborn's hat and setting it aside on the bed for now, Tsuna wrapped the other towel around Reborn's neck carefully. There was no way he'd risk getting his suit dirty. When he was satisfied, he set to work combing out the insanity that was Reborn's naturally messy hair. He worked silently, focused on remembering the steps he'd seen his mother take when doing this and making sure that Reborn enjoyed being spoiled. Bianchi wasn't the only one who could indulge him from time to time.

"You have gentle hands," Reborn told him thoughtfully, breaking the silence as Tsuna started to cut carefully. "Like Mama's, really. It's good that there are things you take from her side of the family as well as Iemitsu's. Hopefully more of them will show up over time."

"I've got her hair," Tsuna replied, defending against the idea of being too much like his father. "That's got to count for something." It was soothing, he decided, talking with Reborn and the casual snip of hair here and there as he shortened and cleaned up the black spikes of Reborn's hair for him. "But Mom's one of a kind, and I'm okay with that."

"You're pretty unique too," Reborn conceded, watching Tsuna's work with a critical eye but not complaining, which told Tsuna that he was doing well. "You still need a lot of work, though."

"I know," Tsuna agreed with him, never looking up from his task. "I can't rely on you and everyone else all the time to have the right answers, and to tell me what to do. I have to get better at making decisions, making the right choices, or at least choices I can live with. It's hard. I never thought it would be easy, but I had no idea that being responsible for other people would be so hard, Reborn. My head spins sometimes, trying to think my way through things and cover all the angles of a problem."

"It's good to think through a problem, Tsuna, but you need to remember you're not the hero type. You need to focus on the most important part of the problem to make your decision in a way you'll be able to live with," Reborn told him, the same lesson he reinforced constantly with his student and had since he was barely able to face a bully without running. "What is it in every situation that is the most important thing for you to do?"

"Protect the people who are important to me," Tsuna replied without a second thought and with no hesitation at all. "Everything else is secondary to that."

"As long as you always keep that in mind, Tsuna, I will never be disappointed in what you choose," Reborn said, smiling at him in the mirror. "Live your life so that while you may have regrets, they will never come from not doing your best for the people you care about."

"Like you have?" Tsuna asked him, setting the scissors down and combing Reborn's hair to check for any spots he'd missed. "It's the only reason I could see for you to allow anyone to curse you like this. It must have been a sacrifice of some sort for people you wanted to protect."

"I suppose you could describe it that way," Reborn said, turning his head this way and that before nodding his approval of the haircut. "But if you ever end up in a situation like this one I'll kill you myself, Tsuna. Sometimes you can sacrifice too much for the wrong reasons."

"Is it selfish to not hate this curse completely, because it means you're here with me?" Tsuna asked, carefully removing the towel around Reborn and brushing him off. "I know it has to be unbearable in ways, but if you hadn't been here for me all this time, there's no way I could have survived all of this and grown so much."

"I'll allow it from you," Reborn answered after some thought, "but don't go blabbing about it everywhere. Then I'd have to hurt you." Reaching over, he took his hat and settled it back on his head.

"Got it," Tsuna grinned and cleaned up the mess he'd made, not wanting to mar the cleaning Reborn had done earlier. After returning everything to its proper place and cleaning the floor, he nodded his satisfaction.

"Reborn, I saved today to spend with you," Tsuna said, dusting himself off. "Is there anything you wanted to do while we're here that you haven't done yet?"

Reborn looked at him thoughtfully from where he'd settled onto the bed, his back against the headboard. There was something in that look that sent a shiver down Tsuna's spine that he failed to hide. It spoke of things that the two of them couldn't discuss yet, not now and not here. It was too early and Reborn was too shackled with the burden of his curse. As if realizing it as well, Reborn's eyes changed, warming into something less focused but in some ways more dangerous, as they filled with humor at the same time.

"You haven't done any training since we arrived," Reborn said, hopping to his feet. "You're going to be fat and lazy if you keep that up. I'll work you like a dog today to make up for it."

They were ominous and true words, and within half an hour Tsuna was fighting for his life in a training room deep in the compound. If that wasn't bad enough, he wasn't lucky enough to be working with one of his friends or even a simulator. Reborn was chasing his ass all over the room ruthlessly, not giving him a moment to rest or recover as they brawled.

It was merciless, violent and strangely exhilarating in its own way, giving Tsuna the same dark, sweet rush that fumbling hands and mouths gave him with his friends. It was a different kind of passion but it was one they could share now and lose themselves in completely. It was no-holds-barred brawling and the training room took extensive damage over the course of the afternoon.

Both were so lost in the fight that neither realized that the entire session had been recorded and broadcasted over the closed-circuit network on the estate for whoever wanted to watch, on the orders of the Ninth. The training session turned out to be remarkably popular material that day. It certainly opened some eyes around the compound in regards to the abilities the Vongola heir held, which had been the older man's goal. Tsuna came nowhere near beating Reborn in the session, but he'd survived and avoided any serious damage, and managed to keep Reborn on the move the entire time.

By the end, the room was smoking and various parts were still smoldering here and there. Tsuna settled onto the floor next to where Reborn was standing and collapsed, falling on his ass to sit next to him. Both were breathing hard and looking more relaxed than they probably had since arriving in Italy.

"You stink, Tsuna," Reborn told him bluntly, wrinkling his nose slightly. He paused, and then glanced down at himself and frowned. "I think I stink too. You've grown a lot from the kid who screamed at the sight of a gun. I'd be proud if I weren't so sticky right now."

Tsuna laughed and handed Reborn his hat. "Well, you've put what, a little over three years of work into me at this point. I'd be an asshole if I hadn't improved at least a little, Reborn."

"True, very true." Reborn settled down next to him. "I think it's time to see what we can do about replacing those headphones with something implanted, Tsuna. Those are too easy to knock off your head." He'd proved it himself a couple of times during their session. "I'm worried about the lenses as well. Dirt in the eye, too hard a knock to the head and they're gone. I'm going to schedule Shamal this fall to come in and handle it, and that'll give Giannini and the boys time to come up with something appropriate."

"I think you're right, Reborn," Tsuna agreed with him. "It's creepy, but if it gives me what we need and lowers the risks of problems in a fight, then it's worth it."

Standing, he stretched slightly. "Let's go find the showers and handle that smell problem, and then find some food. I'm starving and I didn't even ask if you ate this morning."

"I did eat," Reborn told him, amused. "I never miss a meal if I can help it." He led Tsuna out a door and towards the locker rooms to shower and change.

Tsuna once again swore to never doubt Reborn's secret powers, as there were clean clothes, their clothes, waiting for them both in the locker room. Shaking his head, he showered quickly and dressed, eager to find some food. Reborn took longer and Tsuna found himself looking down at the small suit hanging on a locker door and frowning. Reaching out to run his fingers over the fabric, he had to remind himself that somehow, some way, he'd find a way to free Reborn. After everything Reborn had done for him, there was no way he'd allow him to suffer for the rest of his life this way.

"You're thinking too much again, Tsuna," Reborn scolded him as he walked in, toweling his hair. "You're going to hurt something in your head, worrying about things like that."

"Sorry, Reborn," Tsuna flushed slightly and turned to look at him fully. "It just… it pisses me off and when I think about it I get even angrier and then I realize I can't do anything about it yet and I just want to kick something." He parked his ass on a bench and rested his chin on his hand. "You're my best friend, Reborn, the person I'm closest to in the world, and you're the one person I can't help. That's just really fucked up, pardon my language."

"Yes, it is," Reborn agreed with him as he started to dress again, taking his time to do it properly. "But Tsuna, even if there was an easy fix for this curse, there are a lot of dangerous people who would prefer it not be lifted. There are people who would prefer the seven, well eight, really, of us not be as free as we were before the curse. I would rather not have you be forced to deal with them while you're still so young."

He knew it was meant to deter him from worrying about the situation, but Reborn's words just fed the fire inside him to find an answer. Rather than worrying his tutor, he nodded his understanding and sighed softly, letting Reborn believe that he'd given up on worrying about the idea for now. Tsuna had hope and he wasn't going to continue being afraid all the time, not when someone in his Family was hurting.

"Let's get something to eat, Reborn," Tsuna said instead, smiling at him. "I'm dying, here. I want to eat, and then we'll do whatever you want for the rest of the evening." He squashed the part of him that told him this was somewhat like a date, the way Tsuna was acting.

"We'll go to your suite," Reborn told him, straightening his tie. "Dinner should be waiting for us when we get there." He turned and led the way out and back into the hallway, and then up towards Tsuna's rooms.

"Somehow I totally just became the girl in all of this, Reborn," Tsuna told him, following him and shaking his head ruefully. "You have an unholy power."

"Well I'm certainly not the girl here, Tsuna," Reborn told him, smirking slightly and adjusting the brim of his hat.

"I can't really argue with that," Tsuna muttered, and followed him into his suite, where, indeed, their dinner was waiting for them.

They spent the evening in Tsuna's rooms talking, relaxing and eventually watching movies. Occasionally someone would slip in for a few minutes to ask questions and the maids came in at some point to pack their things, but Tsuna barely noticed that. He focused on the fact that they were together, having a good time, and that Reborn was safe and there with him. Everything else in the world could wait until morning, and did.

The flight back to Japan was slightly less crowded but not nearly as chaotic as the flight to Venice had been. A bit wiser this time, Tsuna cordoned off the back of the jet for the kids, setting them up with video games, snacks and a DVD player full of their favorites. With that sort of distraction they really only popped their heads out for more snacks and juice before eventually falling asleep in a pile of pillows and blankets.

With Shouichi and Spanner remaining in Venice for a few more weeks, there were more seats available and a lot less chatter. Hayato, exhausted from his visiting and sightseeing, had curled up on one of the couches along the walls and Chrome was snuggled up between his legs, her cheek resting on his chest and his arms wrapped protectively around her. They'd spent some time whispering intimately and stealing reassuring kisses when people weren't looking. Hayato had put a lot of effort into reassuring her, especially as Mukuro was being left alone in Venice for a while.

While making his rounds of the jet and checking on his Family, Tsuna tucked a blanket around both of them before dropping a kiss on each of their mouths. They blinked at him sleepily and he simply smiled. "It will all be fine, Chrome. I promise. Within a month, Mukuro will be home with us where he belongs, safe and sound. Ken and Chikusa will be so happy to have both of you home."

Moving slowly and gently, he ran his fingers through her hair. "Just remember that Hayato is curled up around you, sheltering you from the world. You must be special to him for who you are, all by yourself. You're a member of our Family, our sister, and you always will be. So focus on enjoying the life you've been given and on loving the people who stand by you."

"Boss," Chrome's eyes shone with tears she couldn't hold back. Tsuna watched them trickle down her lashes. "After what happened the other day, how can you love either Mukuro-sama or I? There was so much pain and anger and hurt. I was so far away and I felt like I was going explode from it."

"Shhh," he soothed her softly, gently wiping her tears away. "That pain was mine already, and I needed to know it and own it completely, so that I can prevent it in the future. I want us all to grow up together. I want to have Chrome-chan's children sitting on my knees where I can play with them, the same way we all play with Lambo, I-pin and Futa. So don't worry about anything for now."

He kissed her again, making her blush a bright pink, and then finished tucking them in. "Sweet dreams, you two. Let's have coffee and snacks when you wake up again. That really good coffee Hayato showed us while we were here."

Leaving them drowsing their way to sleep, he moved forward towards his own seat. He and Reborn had claimed the front part of the jet. Tsuna pulled the privacy curtains between the sections before settling in.

"They're all on their way towards being asleep, Reborn." Tsuna offered his tutor a pillow and blanket. "I thought you might be ready to sleep as well."

"You take good care of them, Tsuna," Reborn said, making himself more comfortable. "Just try to remember that they're here to help you, as well."

"I'll do my best," Tsuna replied, pulling out his summer homework to keep him busy while everyone slept. "Get some sleep. It'll take me at least a few hours to get through what I have left. I'll wake you when I'm done." He understood Reborn's need to have someone strong awake to watch over the Family when they were vulnerable like this.

"I'll check it when you're done," Reborn told him, and promptly drifted off to sleep, leaving Tsuna to wonder, as always, how he could fall asleep so easily.

* * *

*Title translates to "Experience teaches fools".


	17. Chapter XIV: A caelo usque ad centrum

**Chapter XIV: A caelo usque ad centrum (Namimori / Japan / Current Day)**

* * *

**A/N:** For those reading on , my apologies! I didn't realize I'd turned off anonymous comments. I've corrected that after someone let me know.

I've received so much amazing and positive feedback and I just want to say thank you. It definitely motivates me to keep going! There's a lot more to come, so I hope you continue to enjoy it. In a few more chapters I'll have more Interludes for you, some future and some past. So if there are things you'd like to know more about (history, relationship, future) just let me know. I'll do my best to show you, over time.

The following Monday morning came painfully early for Tsuna. Still suffering jet lag from the trip back, he was bleary-eyed and groggy at breakfast. Unable to muster a fight to protect his breakfast, he quickly lost everything but his rice to the more rowdy and strange of his Family. Normally he would have at least protested, but he couldn't manage to scrounge up the energy. He barely had the energy to acknowledge Hayato and Takeshi as they joined him on his walk to school.

Going from a castle full of Mafioso to a high school full of teenagers was an interesting transition to say the least. It was harder because Tsuna had left some of his fellow students in Italy and because of him they'd missed the start of classes. It was also hard to focus on the mundane reality of classes when there was so much going on in his head. In the end, Tsuna slipped up to the roof between classes for the last part of the day to get away from it all. He knew he wouldn't be alone for long, but in some ways that was what he'd been counting on.

"Classes are in session now, Sawada Tsunayoshi." Hibari's voice seemed to come out of nowhere, startling Tsuna out of his daze. "Do you need to be escorted back to your classroom?"

Tsuna sat up slowly, blinking blearily at Hibari, who was leaning against the doorway that led down into the school from the roof where Tsuna had been contemplating the sky rather than sitting in his math class. It would figure that he'd be joined by one of the only people who absolutely could make him return to his desk; Reborn being the other. Groaning, he stretched and tried for somewhat improved posture in the hopes of not being dragged back down, kicking and screaming. Glancing back up at the clouds drifting through the sky, his mind lost focus again.

"Do you know what it means to be the sky, Hibari?" Tsuna flopped back again, pillowing his head on his book bag.

"You know that I don't care about things like that," Hibari replied, although he left his post and allowed the door to swing shut behind him. "As long as the sky is there, what does it matter, anyway?"

"That's what I used to think, too. Everyone has always been so strong and determined, and all I really cared about was me. Sure, I had a few moments of awareness and willingness to sacrifice for and protect others, but in the end I was always so selfish and terrified." Tsuna gestured lazily to the sunny spot he was occupying in invitation, and was more than a bit amused when the other teen sprawled down on the roof, joining him in his cloud-gazing, and even more amused when a head planted itself on his stomach. "But I've learned something since then."

"You've always been slow," Hibari noted, making himself comfortable on Tsuna and yawning. "It's not like that wasn't obvious."

Tsuna laughed at that, unable to argue the point. "I wonder sometimes if I'll ever be strong enough to be what all of you need. To make sure you have your freedom to drift as you wish, to contain the storm within Hayato, to ground Lambo, give Ryouhei enough room to shine properly, to let Yamamoto pour himself into everything he loves and to let Mukuro and Chrome create the world they need."

"We'll do all of those things whether you let us or not," Hibari replied, watching the clouds drift by. "You don't have any control over that."

"It's true, I suppose. Aria-san told me once that being the sky is about being tolerant and accepting. I think, though, that the Arcobaleno are a different sort of Family than we are, so maybe her view is a unique one. I don't know how she leads her own Family." Tsuna rummaged behind his head in his bag and emerged triumphantly with a pair of apples. He handed the nicer one to Hibari, who took it without glancing over once. "But I've been tolerant and accepting and I've tried my best to grow, and I still can't sleep at night. Whatever I do, it never seems to be enough."

Hibari polished his apple and bit into it, chewing slowly. "Without the sky, would there be clouds, or storms, or mist? Or would everything just drift off into space, disconnected and alone?"

"You're surprisingly introspective today, Hibari." Tsuna started in on his own apple.

"Philosophy was somehow added to my schedule. I'd have it removed, but then I'd be taking art." The next sharp bite Hibari took emphasized how he felt about being placed in an art class.

"Too many girls for you in art class?" Tsuna asked, grinning but wise enough to hide it by taking another bite himself. Hibari's aversion to girls had reached a nearly legendary status since they'd moved up to high school together.

"They're noisy." Hibari finished his apple and threw the core with deadly accuracy at the garbage can by the door, nodding to himself as it flew in perfectly. "And they crowd."

"They do." Tsuna wasn't about to risk missing the shot himself and upsetting Hibari, so he wrapped his core up and tucked it back in his bag.

There was something peaceful about the time he spent with Hibari on the rooftop, as rare as it might be. It was time where neither of them felt the need to really prove anything, and the quiet was soothing to both of them. Tsuna had begun to understand why Hibari loved their schools and this area so much, now that he'd done some traveling.

Namimori was a beautiful, peaceful place that spoke to something inside both of them that said 'this is home'. It was one of the primary reasons he never pressured Hibari to travel with him. Tsuna and Reborn both agreed that Hibari would start traveling when he was ready to let go somewhat.

"I have a video for you," Tsuna told him lazily, watching the clouds and imagining various shapes. "Reborn and I did some sparring in one of the training rooms at the estate and Grandfather apparently had it recorded. He gave me a copy of it before we left."

"You fought with the infant?" Hibari asked, curious now. "Was it good?"

"It was. I think you'll enjoy watching it." Tsuna reached back to pull the flash drive out of his bag and handed it over. "It went on for a few hours."

"Mm." Hibari took it from him and tucked it into a pocket before settling in more comfortably with a deep sigh.

It was the closest he'd get to a thank you from Hibari and he knew it, so Tsuna simply smiled and then lazily started stroking Hibari's hair where his head was planted on Tsuna's stomach, fingers sliding through it gently. He could swear he could hear the other boy purring, but decided it was safer not to mention anything about it.

They stayed like that for nearly two hours as classes changed and the sun moved across the sky, drifting in and out of a lazy afternoon nap. Tsuna found his spirit soothed by the company, as quiet as it was and finally was able to relax fully after his trip, something he was grateful for and he rewarded Hibari by continuing the petting. It amused him that his touch was no longer enough to startle the other teen awake.

It wasn't until almost the end of the day that Hibari stirred fully and yawned, stretching lightly. Tsuna chuckled and followed suit, surprised at how much better he felt now. He'd have to keep this in mind for the days where things were overwhelming. Still, the world did continue to move, whether or not he was ready for it. As such, he felt the need to pass on some information to his most dangerous Guardian.

"Varia will be in Namimori on Sunday to meet with me. I'll do my best to keep them confined to their hotel and the office, but if they wander too much, feel free to herd them back to where they belong. Especially if they're rude. They have an almost unnatural interest in you these days, and I'd rather they not kidnap you."

"The baby can't handle them for you?" Hibari asked, not inclined to put any time into any work that didn't benefit him directly and not the least bit concerned by Varia's interest in him.

"Reborn doesn't know that they're coming, and I plan to keep it that way. I've made plans to keep him busy while they're here," Tsuna answered, before lazily stretching again. "It's better if he's not involved in this."

"Keep them away from the school," Hibari told him as he sat up and then stood, rested and renewed. "They're noisy."

"I'll make sure to tell them to assault me only in the business district." Tsuna joined him, grabbing his bag, the noise coming from below indicating the end of classes for the day. "Oh, and Mukuro will be here in person to play with you in a few weeks. Shamal says his body's been improving daily and he's almost back to normal. I promised Reborn that I'd turn you loose on Mukuro and let him record it."

"…and I didn't even get you anything nice," Hibari smirked lightly.

"I'm not sure I'd really enjoy your idea of something nice, Hibari." Tsuna waved over his shoulder as he made his way back down into the school. "Just try not to knock down too many buildings between the two of you."

Hibari snorted lightly and leaned against the wall across from the door.

"Who can control those sorts of things?" he asked philosophically.

"Right, right." Tsuna shook his head. "It's my turn to pick up the kids from school. Later." He figured an afternoon of being climbed on, poked and prodded by the kids would cheer him up at least a little. The next few months were going to be stressful and unpleasant for the most part, so he was determined to find his happiness where he could during it.

* * *

*Title translates to "from the sky to the center".


	18. Chapter XV: Alea iacta est

**Chapter XV: Alea iacta est (Vongola Offices / Namimori / Current Day)**

* * *

When Tsuna first turned sixteen, Reborn had quite generously given him an office in which to handle his mafia-related work, stating that handling such things in his mother's house was entirely inappropriate. Tsuna would argue that while technically it was a gift, what Reborn really did was set Tsuna's Family on a local yakuza branch office, clean it out and claim it as theirs. Tsuna was the one that insisted the Vongola take over the rent for the small two-story building, rather than just assuming the crushed yakuza would continue to pay for it. Still, Tsuna had to admit that having some private space to work in did help him focus on what he needed to get done to meet his obligations.

It also provided him with a private location in which to meet with other Family members that Tsuna's Guardians might not approve of him interacting with, if he was stupid enough to let them know he was doing so. It was for this reason that the office space had been soundproofed and wired for privacy, even the outer sitting areas where his Guardians tended to gather and socialize when they weren't hanging out at Tsuna's house. That made it an ideal location for implementing Tsuna's plans.

That was why he was sitting in his office the following weekend, waiting patiently for the arrival of some of the most dangerous people alive today. He was fairly sure that if Reborn found out about this, Tsuna would never be allowed out of his sight again in this lifetime. As he heard them disarm the alarm on the first level and make their way up the stairs, he also reminded himself to change the code. There was no way they should have had it in the first place. Moving to open his office door for them, he waited for them to come in through the outer area and into his office.

Tsuna watched carefully as the six Varia members made their way into his office, looking each of them over thoughtfully. His thoughts scattered, however, when Xanxus practically stormed his way over to Tsuna, looked him up and down and then punched him squarely in the face. The blow was strong enough to rock Tsuna's head back and make him see stars for a minute, before promptly clapping his hand over his now very sore and bleeding nose. He'd known Xanxus was touchy but was that really appropriate in a professional setting?

"Are you out of your fucking mind? We all know you're not the sharpest knife in the set, but crazy, that's a whole new level of what we don't want in a boss. If you feel the need to kill yourself, take a long walk off a short bridge." Xanxus was glaring at Tsuna, and not his normal glare of lazy disdain, but one filled with anger and indignation and somewhere hidden deeply beneath that, concern. It was the look that clued Tsuna in on what the real problem was, here.

"Really, he's not all bad, you know," Tsuna offered, handkerchief in hand to staunch the ongoing nosebleed as he tilted his head back. "You'd be amazed at what he'd do to protect the people he cares about. Besides, my Mukuro-radar is well-honed by now. If he couldn't sneak up on me with Chrome right next to me, I'm not going to worry overly much about him managing it when he's at full strength. Besides, Mukuro and I have reached an understanding."

Grumbling, Xanxus settled down somewhat. Tsuna was going to have to find out whether or not Mukuro was causing trouble in Italy, he supposed, based on that reaction. While it took very little to rile the other man, it had been a while since he'd actually smacked Tsuna a good one like that over something.

"Can we fight about Mukuro later? We're on a tight timeline here, and we need to go over the mission parameters quickly." Tsuna also desperately wanted to get an ice pack on his nose.

"We couldn't do this over a secure communication line, brat?" Xanxus snarled at him grumpily before flopping into a chair and promptly putting his feet up on Tsuna's desk. He radiated displeasure at having to fly all the way to Japan just to receive orders from a boy he hadn't really decided he was all that interested in following anyway. "Or hasn't anyone told you how the grown-ups play the game?"

Tsuna sighed and shook his head slightly as he locked the door behind them and scanned the room to make sure there was no sign of Reborn anywhere in the room. He'd arranged for his tutor to spend the afternoon training Hayato and Takeshi in the mountains, as both had expressed interest in expanding their skill set yet again, and it solved his problem of how to keep this meeting a secret from Reborn. While normally he relied on the advice Reborn gave him, this was a subject that he had no intention of sharing with his tutor.

"This conversation will never be discussed beyond this room, by any of you." Tsuna made his way back to his desk and settled behind it slowly, as though his whole body were aching, and not just his face. "I am about to give you a mission that not even my father or Reborn are to know about until I disclose it to them. It has been approved by the Ninth, just in case you feel the need to argue about it." He held up a document flaming with the Ninth's seal at the top.

That got their attention, and he suddenly found himself the focus of six pairs of intent eyes, full of bloodlust and a true passion for their work. Tsuna took a sip from his mug of coffee to hide his swallow of nervousness. This was the first time he'd met privately with Vongola's independent assassination squad, and he knew it was dangerous to do it with no protection. Still, it needed to be done, and quietly.

"Xanxus, my orders for Varia are as follows. Find and capture the Arcobaleno known as Verde, with minimal physical or mental damage. You will transport him to the secure facility in Venice, where a holding cell has been prepared for him by Shouichi, Spanner and Giannini-san. Immediately upon capture, Mammon is to bind Verde's pacifier with his chains to avoid further detection while he is being held. He is to be allowed no chance to sound an alarm, communicate with anyone, or bring anything physically with him besides his pacifier and that alligator of his, even if that means stripping him completely. Shamal and Mukuro will be waiting for you at the Venice holding facility to examine Verde and guarantee his compliance." It had taken Tsuna weeks to get this mission fully laid out and to come up with the right steps to follow to avoid disaster.

"The Ninth will have a clean-up team ready to follow you out of Verde's laboratory and confiscate his technology." Tsuna handed them the orders. "Read carefully now, because those papers don't leave this room and will be destroyed after this conversation ends."

Tsuna sat back as the papers were snatched from his hands and he leaned back into his chair, sighing. His eyes scanned the group carefully as they circled around Xanxus and read their target profile and confirmed their orders. He could see the moment they began questioning his purpose between them, and sighed again as Xanxus glared at him fiercely.

"We kill people. We don't do retrievals, brat." Xanxus was practically growling at the thought of being sent on what seemed, to them, to be such an easy mission. "Get someone else to do it." He tossed the papers back on the desk rudely.

"Honestly, Xanxus, do you honestly think I'd choose to spend this much time with the group of you alone, if I had any other choice?" Tsuna asked, rubbing his forehead where a throbbing headache had started. "This isn't as easy as you think it will be. Verde nearly killed all of the other Arcobaleno not too long ago, and he's had time to perfect his technology, both in using the Dying Will flames and in creating box weapons. Do you really think prying him from his laboratory is going to be easy?"

"Why not send Reborn then?" Xanxus snarled, with Squalo and Mammon nodding in agreement. "Let the midgets beat each other up." Mammon didn't look quiet as agreeable to that last statement, which forced a small smile from Tsuna. "This is a waste of resources."

Tsuna stood then, and leaned over his desk to meet Xanxus' eyes. "Xanxus, if Varia does not successfully complete this mission, it's possible that soon we won't have any Arcobaleno to send after Verde, and Verde himself might be dead. While I understand your pride in what you do, the needs of the Family outweigh your indignation regarding this situation. It is our responsibility as a Family to protect the allies that help to support the Vongola name."

That gave them pause, and Tsuna found himself the focus of Mammon's eyes then, as the psychic floated over Tsuna's desk to address him directly. "What is it that you know, Vongola Decimo? What would make you think that we are so weak that we could be eliminated so easily?"

"I know that Verde used a weapon against all of you that we didn't manage to destroy completely, and that he's had years to fine tune it now." Tsuna forced himself to hold back what his subconscious had been showing him for years; a future without Reborn in it. "We've been tracking his spending and his projects for the last six months and his efforts have increased significantly. It's possible that he may have decided that the best way to try and free himself from your curse is to destroy the rest of you. He's certainly mad enough to try it."

Mammon nodded slowly in agreement at that statement. "Then if the others won't go, at least I will go. You're paying me, after all."

"Thank you," Tsuna said, head bowing slightly in appreciation. "While we may have been enemies in the past, it would destroy me to see any of my Family killed just to bring someone else power." Tsuna's passion at the thought and the hints of anger surging through his body at the thought of anyone attacking the people he protected surged through the room at a deep level, recognizable to every Varia member.

"Tch," Xanxus snorted lightly. "You're still too soft, brat." He stood and yawned lightly. "But I suppose we could take this on, in exchange for a few upgrades to our home base. After all, it's an unusual assignment. There should be something unique in it for us."

Tsuna hid a smile by rubbing his jaw as if thoughtfully. "Do what you want, within reason, and send me the bill, then." It was a small price to pay, to keep his people safe, even the ones that still scared him to the very core of his being. "For what it's worth, you have my gratitude."

The snorts echoing around the room forced a grin from Tsuna, and then a laugh. It wasn't so hard to believe that this group of assassins had terrified him so thoroughly the first time he'd met them. They were formidable and their reputation had been well-earned.

"One last thing," Tsuna moved around the desk now to meet each of their eyes for a moment. "Not a word of this reaches Reborn or anyone who would discuss it with him. Progress is to be reported to myself or the Ninth only."

"You haven't told Reborn what it is that haunts you?" Mammon eyed Tsuna thoughtfully, frowning. "Is that wise, Vongola Decimo?"

"I've never been particularly wise, Mammon," Tsuna answered, running a rueful hand through his hair. "But instinct says that letting Reborn leave my range of protection now would result in disaster. So I'm putting my trust in the six of you to fight this battle for me." He looked up, his eyes no longer the open, innocent eyes people were used to. Instead, fire and passion burned within them, searing in the intensity of his gaze. "If I could go, I would rain fire and devastation down on Verde for what I know he will try to do. He's one of the two people who've attacked me that I will never forgive. It's smarter to send you all, because you're not so emotionally invested."

Even Xanxus blinked at that, none of them being used to seeing any sort of true anger or hatred in their boss. In an instant, Xanxus gestured and the others filed out of the room without a moment's hesitation, Xanxus closing the door behind them and locking it again, leaving him alone with Tsuna. He watched as Tsuna focused for an instant, fire flaring from his fingertips to destroy the paperwork for the mission.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi," he growled softly, moving back to stand directly in front of Tsuna. "This isn't like you. What is it that's got you so pissed?"

Tsuna looked up at him, and the eyes that had been so furious just a few moments ago were full of pain, tears forming along his lashes. "I've seen what happens to our Family, if I don't give everything I am to protect it, and I will not allow it to happen. I will keep all of you safe, even if it kills me. That's the only reason I fought against you in the first place, the only reason I took the Arcobaleno trials, the only reason I keep fighting. I will not fail you again."

"As much as it annoys me to have to say it, brat, you haven't failed us yet." A rough hand landed on Tsuna's head, ruffling his hair thoroughly into an unmanageable mess. "But since you're so adamant about all of this, I suppose we can take the trash out for you, just this once. Don't make it a habit, though."

With that, Xanxus was moving towards the door again, a hand lifted in a casual backwards wave as he left the room, not looking back once. Tsuna sank onto his desk, sitting on the corner of it and panting slightly as the tension faded from his body and his muscles relaxed again. That had gone far, far better than he had feared it would.

"Sometimes," he murmured to himself, "I wish I could have met all of you in a different way. Then maybe you would all understand how lucky I really am to have all of you."

Sighing, Tsuna pulled himself back up and settled properly behind his desk to tackle the mountains of paperwork he'd used as an excuse to skip out on training with the others. If he didn't have it done by the time they got back in the evening he was pretty sure Reborn would make sure that Tsuna didn't have to worry about the future, because he'd be in a coma from the smack to the head he'd get. Chuckling at the thought, he waded into the pile with a twisted sort of enthusiasm.

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*Title translates to "the die has been cast" (i.e. reaching the point of no return).


	19. Chapter XVI: Nam et ipsa scientia potest

**Chapter XVI: Nam et ipsa scientia potestas es (Sawada Household & Vongola Offices / Namimori / Current Day)**

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Tsuna was on his way to the office after school the following Saturday and chatting cheerfully with Reborn when his cell phone rang, jolting him out of the semi-meditative state he'd fallen into. Glancing at the screen, he blinked at the name of the caller and then answered carefully. With Reborn walking next to him on the wall along the sidewalk, he had to be sure not to give anything away.

"Target acquired." Tsuna offered up a multitude of worshipful prayers of gratitude that it was Levi calling him and not someone as noisy as Squalo or Xanxus. There would have been no keeping the secret with Reborn overhearing their voices. "Transporting now."

"Mukuro and Shamal will be waiting for your arrival. I'll notify them immediately. Good work." Tsuna could actually feel muscles he hadn't realized had been tense for the past week relaxing at the news. It was a huge step forward in his plans. The click on the other end of the connection was the only sign that his instructions had been heard. Shaking his head, he refocused.

Hanging up, Tsuna focused next on sending a text message to Shouichi and Spanner, knowing they would notify Mukuro and Shamal regarding the imminent arrival of the target. That done, he tucked his phone back into his pocket and turned to Reborn, grinning. The day seemed so much brighter, all of a sudden.

"Did you receive some good news, Tsuna?" Reborn asked, tilting his head at his student in curiosity.

"Yeah I did, actually. Something Grandfather asked me to coordinate on my own seems to be working out well. It looks like it might be successful. I think I might actually be a bit proud of myself," Tsuna was positively beaming now.

"Your learning has improved a lot, lately," Reborn commented. "I hardly have a chance to reprimand you properly these days."

"That doesn't seem to stop you from doing it, though," Tsuna shot back, making a face at him. "You dropped all of my textbooks on my head to wake me up this morning."

"That was a wake-up call full of love, Tsuna," Reborn informed him, not looking the least bit repentant. "You shouldn't leave them lying all over the floor the way you do. It upsets Mama."

"I'm really not feeling the love, Reborn," Tsuna griped good-naturedly. "I feel the lump on the top of my head though."

"How can you feel it through all of that hair of yours?" Reborn asked, sniffing. "And you complain about my hair."

"Definitely not feeling the love, nope," Tsuna stuck his tongue out cheerfully at his tutor.

"It all depends on how you define love, Tsuna." Reborn abandoned the wall to settle himself on Tsuna's head. "My definition is right and yours is incomplete."

"Well, I'm still growing," Tsuna replied, not the least bothered anymore by the extra weight or the odd looks people shot their way. "I'm sure I'll get there eventually."

It wasn't until painfully early Sunday morning that Tsuna's phone vibrated again, waking him from a dead sleep as he fumbled it out from under his pillow. Blinking at in confusion he then had to turn it right side up before he could read the message on the screen. Sitting straight up, he deleted the message and got out of bed. Getting dressed had to happen in silence. It was bad enough that Reborn slept with his eyes open. One wrong noise and Tsuna would never be able to sneak out alone.

Slipping out of his room and out of the house undetected took him a few minutes and he didn't pause to breathe a sigh of relief until he closed the gate behind him. Turning, he took off at a fast walk for his office, one hand clenched around his keys in his pocket and his other clenched around his phone in the other pocket. Finally, things would really start moving.

He gave another sigh of relief when he reached the office and it was still locked and the alarm armed. Letting himself in, he made sure to rearm the alarm. A few seconds of warning as someone disabled the alarm would give him enough time to cover his tracks. Moving through the outer room to his office, and then to his desk, he flipped open his laptop and triggered the secure video conference connection that Shouichi and Spanner had set up for him before they left. He couldn't resist a grin as his two friends appeared on the screen in front of him.

"How's Venice treating you?" he asked, relaxing into his chair. "Ready to come home soon?"

"Tsuna-san," Shouichi returned his smile and Tsuna saw his friend's shoulders relaxing just as his own had a short while ago. "It will definitely be nice to be home again. We're getting a bit homesick." Tsuna could see Spanner nodding in agreement, too lazy to add his opinion verbally.

"We miss you, so hurry back." Tsuna stretched slightly and then sat up properly. "Let me talk to Mukuro, please?"

A chuckle, a blur and then Mukuro appeared on the screen. "Do you miss me as well, Tsunayoshi-chan? I know I've been neglectful, the past several days."

"I think it says something about my life that I get lonely when no one is walking around in my dreams talking to me," Tsuna mused thoughtfully. "But I'll have you all to myself in person soon. I'll have to keep being strong until then."

"I don't know, Tsunayoshi-chan. Hibari's already called me for a play date. You may have to share." The gleam of anticipation in Mukuro's eyes would have made Tsuna nervous a few years ago. Now he just realized that both of them were beasts when it came to things like this and it was better to let them have their way. It was one of those flexible things he'd learned as he grew into his Family.

"I'll watch and cheer you both on, then. And then afterwards you'll both fall asleep on me and I'll be pinned to the ground in some weird place until you wake up." Tsuna shook his head in amusement.

"Most likely. You're a very comfortable pillow. Kyoya-chan has been taking shameless advantage of you." Mukuro leered at Tsuna playfully.

"Ah, but no one bothers me while he's asleep. It's a fair trade." Sighing, Tsuna tried to focus on the tasks at hand.

"I'm guessing your good mood is because you were successful, Mukuro?"

"Very. It took a while to get past all of his defenses and he had some nasty little traps here and there, but it's much easier to remove memories of something that is dangerous to a person as well as the people they wish to harm. Self-preservation is always useful leverage. Verde has no memory now of the chemical compounds that would have led to the deaths of the Arcobaleno. In addition, your adorable technology wizards have removed any and all electronic and physical documentation Verde maintained. Varia has successfully swept all known and previously unknown locations to verify this." Mukuro looked practically smug over his success.

"That's the best news I've heard in a while," Tsuna slumped slightly before straightening again. "Excellent work, everyone. Once this conversation is finished, we can move on to our other objectives. This, however, was the riskiest of them all, as it involved Verde."

"It was useful that Mammon was nervous enough after your conversation with him that he offered additional help after the retrieval and sweep." Mukuro shrugged lightly and now Tsuna could see signs of real exhaustion in the lines of his shoulders.

"Thank you, Mukuro. Please, go get some rest now. You need to be healthy and rested for your flight here. I'll meet you all at the airport and take you home from there." Tsuna smiled at all three of them.

"Thanks, boss." Spanner answered for all of them, grinning and waving as Tsuna blushed lightly.

"All right then. Shouichi, connect me to Verde's workstation." Tsuna ran a hand through his hair as he prepared for the next conversation. In a few moments, his screen flashed and he found himself meeting green eyes half-hidden behind glasses as the Arcobaleno glared at him.

"Vongola Decimo, I was aware that we hadn't left each other on the best of terms the last time we met, but I didn't think you were the vindictive sort." There was something about that lazy, arrogant way of speaking that really irked Tsuna, but he let it slide.

"Very recently I received information that indicated that should I not intervene immediately, then your continued existence might be in danger. While it's true I'm not overly fond of you and your actions in the past, your death could mean that the curse you bear might never be lifted from the people I care about, like Lal, Colonnello and Reborn." Tsuna's face was earnest as he talked, trying to emphasize the risks involved. "As you can be very hard to find, this seemed the best option for your protection."

Verde looked at him thoughtfully before frowning. "You're sure the threat was credible? It's rare than anyone would hunt one such as I."

"I know that it was credible, because ten years from now I heard all about how you died, and how you caused the death of the others." Tsuna was blunt, knowing he couldn't out-talk the Arcobaleno mad genius. "You should be happy I chose to hope for the lifting of the curse rather than simply have Varia execute you."

"You've chosen to imprison me instead?" It was amazing how well Verde could sneer without making a facial expression at all.

"No. I've chosen to employ you, instead. Shouichi and Spanner have designed an enormous laboratory on the estate for you that should more than meet your needs and standards. It should be complete in the next few weeks. You'll have a generous salary and plenty of room for experimentation." Tsuna hated doing it, when what he really wanted to do was punch that smug, irritating face, but there were things that needed to be done.

"And what, exactly, would I be doing for you?" Verde was starting to look intrigued now, almost against his will.

"Three things: rings, box weapons, and investigating ways to remove your curse." Tsuna leaned back in his chair now, a bit more confident with Verde's interest. "Teams like the Varia need rings that work with their flame type. All of our box weapons could use improvement and there's plenty of room for new ideas. Most importantly, I want to see all seven of you, plus Lal, free from this curse."

"How very industrious of you," Verde commented, but Tsuna could see that he was thinking the idea over carefully. Tsuna gave him time to think, watching him on the monitor. "I suppose I could be convinced to be paid by the Vongola for avenues of research I was already investigating. I'll be adding items I'll need to the list that your children here have already created."

The beep of the alarm system as someone began disarming it straightened Tsuna's spine in an instant. "Agreed. Order what you need. Shamal will be remaining in Venice for the time being, so feel free to make use of him as well."

With a keystroke, Tsuna closed the connection and pulled up his email inbox, only seconds before the door to his office swung open and Reborn walked in. Tsuna blinked at him and then ran a hand through his hair. That had been painfully close.

"I let you sleep in for a reason, Reborn," Tsuna mock-scolded, closing his laptop. "You didn't have to come all the way down here on a Sunday. I was just checking on a few things like Mukuro's arrival, and when Shouichi and Spanner were going to be coming home. They'll be arriving all together, soon."

Reborn hopped up on the desk to face him and held something out. Tsuna blinked at him dumbly for a moment before looking down to see what it was. He blinked again when he saw it was what would have been Tsuna's breakfast, tucked carefully into a bento.

"What...? Did mom...?" Tsuna couldn't wrap his head around the idea of Reborn bringing him food instead of stealing it from him.

"You've been working hard lately, Tsuna," Reborn replied, placing the bento in Tsuna's hands. "You need to keep your strength up. You shouldn't be skipping meals like this."

Tsuna's eyes watered slightly and for a second he thought he might actually cry. He hadn't really realized that while he'd been worrying about everyone else and protecting them that someone else might be worrying about him. For Reborn to do this, his tutor must have been very worried.

"Thank you," Tsuna said, and opened it before pulling out two sets of chopsticks from his desk, handing one set to Reborn. "Let's have breakfast."

Reborn settled himself comfortably on the desk and they divided the meal between them. There was no talk of business or training. Instead they talked about personal things, like the sights seen in Venice, who was last seen making out together and other small things like that. It was one of the nicest meals Tsuna'd had in a long time.

* * *

*Title translates to "knowledge is power".


	20. Chapter XVII: Res firma mitescere nescit

**Chapter XVII: Res firma mitescere nescit (Sawada Household / Namimori / Current Day)**

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Tsuna started his Sunday morning by taking a walk to the store to do some shopping for his mother while making a phone call he knew would rile certain people. That made it a much better idea to make that call well away from them. Now that he'd overcome one enormous obstacle with the acquisition and retention of Verde for the Family, he needed to set the next steps into motion. He knew, however, that his next victory would require some patience, a whole lot of tolerance and possibly some begging on his part.

"Do you even know what time it is here, you brat?" The voice on the other end of the line radiated annoyance and irritation in waves that were practically visible. Tsuna winced slightly, not having done the mental calculations before realizing that no matter what time of day it was, the chances of Xanxus being asleep was high. "Haven't we done enough work for you this month? Did you want me to help you with your homework? Or did you call just to chat?" The snort that followed that question told Tsuna what Xanxus thought of that idea.

"I need you to come to Japan when the others fly back." It was better, Tsuna figured, to stick to business when dealing with an irritated Xanxus, although in his experience, Xanxus was pretty much always irritated. "I'll have the schedule sent over to you today."

"I'm beginning to wonder if you're retarded," Xanxus snarled. "We kill people. We don't babysit or bodyguard. Get your brat brigade home on your own."

"Have you ever considered counseling, Xanxus?" Tsuna blanched as the words slipped out and slapped his forehead for not leashing his mouth properly.

"I'm going to kill you, and then I'm going to have you stuffed and mounted, so I can use you for target practice." Clearly the answer was no.

"Well it's not like a little talk therapy couldn't help, right? I mean, throwing things at people has to be a sign of some sort of inner trauma." Tsuna slapped himself again.

"I hope you're running already, Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"Wait! Waaait! Before you plan my death, what I needed to see you for is real work." Distract Xanxus, that's what Tsuna needed to do at this moment. "I have a list for you, approved by the Ninth. Eight names over the next six weeks."

"Eight?" It must have worked, at least a little, because it seemed as if Xanxus was focusing more on Tsuna now and without that edge to his voice that meant pain was coming Tsuna's way.

"Yeah," Tsuna sighed and bit his bottom lip as he leaned against the wall. "I have the dossiers for you here. There's no point in flying everyone over, however, as all of the names on the list currently reside in Europe or the United States."

"This isn't going to be boring, is it?" Everyone knew how much Xanxus enjoyed sleeping through boring assignments.

"I'm asking you all to do this because if we don't handle these people, they will become a clear and present danger to the Family within the next few years. Currently none of them have significant backing from any Family, so it's a good time to move without causing conflict."

"All right, I'll come. But I'm not staying at or anywhere near that hotel of a house of yours." The mental image of Xanxus in Tsuna's mother's house almost made Tsuna faint in horror. To Tsuna, Xanxus was like a lion. He was long, lean, powerful, dangerous and absolutely unpredictable. The idea of someone that terrifying sitting at his mother's table was just wrong.

"I'm sure Dino will let you use his place. I'll make the arrangements." Tsuna would make sure somehow that Dino agreed. "Oh, and as a special thank you for your earlier work, sometime soon Varia should have new rings. More compatible rings."

"Do you really think it's smart to keep making Varia stronger? We're not all that fond of you, you know."

"I think," Tsuna paused for a moment to sort out his words. "I think that when outsiders threaten Vongola, we should all stand united, no matter what we think of each other the rest of the time. I should be clear on this, too. We are being threatened. It's just not obvious yet."

"Maybe all that tutoring is doing you some good after all." Xanxus hung up on Tsuna then, and Tsuna sighed with relief.

"It's like a walk through a field of landmines," he muttered to himself, tucking his phone away. "Aren't there any normal, calm, laidback people in Vongola?"

"Only the lackeys," Reborn's voice came from behind Tsuna and had him spinning around and yelping in surprise.

Even a few months ago, Tsuna would have given himself away by demanding to know how long Reborn had been there, or what he'd heard. That was months ago, however, and now Tsuna forced himself not to. Instead, he smiled and shook his head.

"Sorry, Reborn. I guess I still have things to learn when you can sneak up on me like that." In an instant Tsuna decided not to wonder whether he'd been overheard. What was done was done. He did, however, have something that it was important for Reborn to hear.

"I'm glad you're here, though. I was going to go looking for you. I need you to reach Dad for me."

"Iemitsu? Why? You haven't asked about him in a while." Reborn was watching Tsuna intently now, and Tsuna could practically see the cogs spinning in Reborn's head, trying to piece things together but still missing some of the facts.

"Because I need him to reassign Lal to Japan," Tsuna replied, resuming his walk to the store.

"Why?" Reborn asked, hopping up onto Tsuna's shoulder.

"I'll need her help soon. I'm pretty sure that sometime within the next six weeks, someone will try to kill me."

Reborn was silent for a few moments and then he leaned against Tsuna's head. "Why would someone want to kill you, Tsuna?"

"Because I'm protecting my Family." For some, Tsuna knew, that was more than reason enough. "Some of the things I've been working on with Grandfather are going to make me more noticeable now, and there's going to be some backlash soon. Especially after the next round of orders go out."

"And you won't tell me what you're doing that's putting you in so much danger?" Irritation practically seethed from Reborn and his hand closed tightly and painfully on Tsuna's ear. "I understand that you want to protect the Family, Tsuna, but my assignment is to teach you and make sure you live to take over the Family. This constant keeping of secrets makes that extremely difficult. Wouldn't it be better to simply let me help you?"

"I'm sorry, Reborn, but I can't." Tsuna could feel himself tensing further. He hated arguing with Reborn more than just about any of the other unusual and stressful things his mafia life hand dropped into his lap. This, however, was something he didn't want Reborn involved in. He knew his tutor and knew that his reaction to things this dangerous would fall well into the category of 'seek and destroy' without consideration. "Grandfather and I agreed that it's better to keep you out of this problem. When I can tell you, I will. I promise."

Reborn went silent then, and remained so through the rest of Tsuna's errand. When they returned to the house, he disappeared upstairs quietly. Tsuna looked in on him regularly through the afternoon, worried at the mood he'd caused in someone he valued so much. Each time he glanced over to Reborn's corner in his room, however, he was blatantly ignored while his tutor communed with his various agents, random insects and animals. At least Reborn had taken the first part of what Tsuna had said to heart, if he was already establishing a solid information network to keep an eye on him. Tsuna made a mental note to be more careful now in how he communicated, because Reborn was going to know where he was at all times.

Strangely, some part of him felt relief at the fact that Reborn was focusing on what he would need to do to keep a close eye on him. It meant that while Reborn was angry, it wasn't necessarily with him as much as with the situation. They both knew there had been plenty of times in the past when Reborn had been forced to withhold information from Tsuna in similar circumstances. All Tsuna could do now was show his understanding and acceptance of Reborn's anger by silently settling in his room nearby and working on his homework diligently, keeping him company.

By dinner Reborn had relented somewhat, at least enough to steal half of Tsuna's food, ignoring his outraged protests about being a growing boy and smugly diving in for his next theft. His mood had definitely improved by the time he reviewed Tsuna's homework and gave him corrections to make while he lounged in his chair comfortably. By bedtime, things were still strained but a lot closer to normal, and Tsuna found himself sighing in relief as he slid into bed. He hated doing things that hurt or upset Reborn, because it reeked of distrust, and that wasn't the case at all.

Tsuna trusted Reborn absolutely. It took time, but within months of meeting him, Tsuna had learned that the welfare of the Vongola, the Family, and in direct relation, Tsuna, was always Reborn's absolute priority. It was that knowledge that made keeping secrets from his closest friend all the more painful.

"I'm sorry, Reborn," he whispered later that night as he struggled to sleep, hearing Reborn's soft and regular breathing from his hammock. "But I would sacrifice everything to avoid losing any of my precious people, and you the most. Our Family isn't a Family without you here to guide us. We'd be lost without you."

Rolling onto his side and facing Reborn's corner, Tsuna sighed sadly. "You taught me that to be the boss is to protect the Family from any and all attacks. To hold them all the best way I can and keep them safe, so that they can keep our Family strong. I know I'm not being fair right now, but I know if I brought you and the others into this, you'd rush out to protect me, and I'm not the one who's at risk here."

"It's difficult to consciously trust your instincts, Tsuna." Reborn appeared out of nowhere on the edge of the bed, watching Tsuna with serious eyes. "Especially with things that are morally challenging. Our world is a dark one, Tsuna. It's not a burden you're expected to carry alone. Stronger men than you have failed. You should trust the people around you and rely on them."

"There's no one in this world that I trust more than you, Reborn." Tsuna rested a hand on Reborn's shoulder and squeezed gently. "And I know that if you really wanted to know what I was up to, you could bully it out of me or put the pieces together yourself. All I can do is ask you to trust in me and let me handle this until I can tell you what comes next. I'm worried that if I involve you too early, I'll lose you."

"It's rare, Tsuna, that anyone would think that I need to be protected from something," Reborn said, moving forward and claiming the majority of Tsuna's pillow for himself. "Especially you."

"Arcobaleno curse or not, Reborn, you're human. You're a man, not a child, and while I know you're unbelievably strong, I also know all it takes is one lucky moment for someone else. The majority of the time I don't have to worry about even that, because you're so strong you'd never allow someone to get that lucky. These people, though, they're unnatural." Tsuna laid back down, his head flopping onto what little pillow he'd kept for himself, and watched Reborn with fond eyes. "I'll kill them with my own hands before I risk letting them get that lucky."

"Tsuna..." While it looked like he had more he wanted to say on the subject, Reborn settled in for the night on his pillow, pulling the covers up to cover him properly, staying silent in the end.

"We'll talk to Dad and Lal, and come up with a way to make sure I'm safe," Tsuna said, reaching out sleepily to catch one of Reborn's small hands in his own. "I promise I'll do whatever you all think I should, even if it means less freedom for me. I can't leave you guys alone with the way things are, now can I?"

"You'd better not, Tsuna. I'd have to bring you back to life just to punish you." A deep breath, and then Tsuna heard the tell-tale snore that indicated Reborn was asleep now.

Tsuna's conversation with Reborn seemed to have bought him some peace for now, and it made things somewhat easier. He knew Reborn wasn't the least bit happy with this, but the willingness of his tutor to let him continue on and to not interfere told Tsuna a lot about where Reborn thought he was in his growth. They'd had their shared moments over the years where Reborn would go silent and simply smile at him, always a sign that whatever choice had been made was the right one, but this felt different. It was deeper and more overwhelming. Tsuna felt as though he was finally becoming the kind of boss that Reborn himself would follow, not out of obligation but out of respect.

Content with having resolved their argument, at least somewhat, Tsuna snuggled comfortably back under the covers. His hand remained firmly around Reborn's, and the fact that those small fingers were holding onto his just as tightly meant the world to him. He took his own deep, soothing breath, and then another, and then he fell asleep as well.

* * *

*Title translates to "A firm resolve does not know how to weaken".


	21. Interlude III: Mors ultima ratio

**Interlude III: Mors ultima ratio (Vongola Estate / Venice, Italy / Six Years Future)**

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* * *

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**A/N: **This is set six years in the future from the current timeline. There's been some clamor for more R27 time, so I went for that here, but I got more of Reborn than Tsuna in the end. I do think it conveys well how he looks out for Tsuna without being overly obvious about it. Don't worry, though. There's more to come!

The next interlude will be the flip side of Chapter II, which will show us all what happened to poor Kyoya on the future side, and what happened when they switched back. I'm just polishing that Interlude chapter up today and possibly tonight before posting it. So you may see it today, you may not. I tend to post in clumps of chapters.

From that point forward, we're going to see more action and excitement, including the return of Mukuro (and some nice, steamy fun between Mukuro and Tsuna), an assassination attempt, and more! Oh yes, and Iemitsu. Because no boss is complete without a crazy father, right? Oh, and some Lal as well, and a few other characters I may have been neglecting a bit. Enjoy!

* * *

Assassination wasn't something one did on a whim with some random gunfight outside a bar late at night. It was something that came with a checklist of requirements that needed to be met, all of which had to be memorized so there would be no kind of paper trail. It was to be handled efficiently and cleanly, with no way to trace it back to either the hit man or the client.

Sure, there was the occasional flashy, so-called 'impossible' hit, where a group like Vongola's Varia rampaged in waves of fire and blood to accomplish their task, but those were pricey and less common than most would think. No, most mob-related hits happened in quiet secrecy and were never, ever acknowledged outside of the payment received. Those were the hits that Reborn preferred.

For all of his ego and arrogance, Reborn preferred his assassination the way he liked his booze, dark, smooth and with a bite that came when you least expected it. He liked to hit hard and silently and leave no trace that he was every there except the brutal result of his work. He would receive his orders, perform his job with exquisite grace and skill, and slip out into the darkness to return home.

These days, he went out rarely on a job. There were the kids now, to handle the easier hits, and Varia was picking up more of the slack than they used to. Reborn wasn't sure what Tsuna had done or said to motivate Xanxus, but it certainly allowed him stay closer to home, which he preferred. Being at home meant being close to Tsuna, which meant Tsuna was safe, secure and in his arms.

So when Reborn did find himself out on a job, it was one even the Varia had turned down as too dangerous or too unpredictable. As crazy as the Varia were, there was a limit to what they considered acceptable loss. When jobs came up that no one else could handle, that was when Tsuna had to send Reborn out to take care of it. There was simply no other choice.

This, of course, made the task of assigning a job to Reborn insanely difficult for Tsuna, because he knew, by the time it got to that point, exactly how dangerous it was. Reborn knew this, but over the past several years hadn't managed to find a way to make it easier. Instead, they'd both come to an understanding that the good of the Family sometimes must surpass their own happiness. It was inherent in their natures to make that sacrifice, but it had been painful all the same.

There was a routine to it now. Reborn could tell for days, sometimes even weeks ahead of time when something had come up that only he could handle. Tsuna would go quiet during meals, in the evenings, even in meetings with the others. His face would be paler than normal and his eyes would take on that glazed, dangerous look that they used to only see when Reborn took the Dying Will bullets to him. At night, it was even clearer to Reborn, because Tsuna would wrap around him tightly in his sleep, almost to the point where Reborn couldn't move without an enormous amount of work to unwrap himself.

Tsuna was the source of balance and harmony that kept their Family together, and so eventually his emotional state would start impacting the others. It would start with the occasional sneer or harsh word and devolve from there into challenges and fights in the hallway if it went on too long. By the time that property damage began, Reborn would normally figure he'd better intervene soon.

That would be the time when Futa would reappear unexpectedly for a visit home, at first from his high school dormitory and then later from his first year at college, and nod quietly to Reborn in understanding while on his way in to visit his Tsuna-nii. They'd stay locked in Tsuna's office for hours while random things floated outside the door in odd intervals, until Tsuna came to some acceptable decision or plan.

Futa would stay the night, eat dinner with the family and head back to his dormitory in the morning, with a tidy addition to his bank account from Reborn. He'd protest that it wasn't necessary, as Tsuna-nii was special to him and they were Family, but Reborn would simply point out that food costs money and students had unexpected expenses and that he was simply increasing his allowance for the month, just in case. Then he would hug the boy and quietly thank him for coming so quickly.

Within a day after Futa's visit, the official summons for Reborn would come, which was vastly different than the text messages Tsuna would send him when he was bored or wanted company during the day. This summons would come in the form of Hayato, tie loose around his neck, collar open, hair a mess from the number of times he'd run his hands through it, tracking him down and looking at him unhappily. That was where Hayato and Reborn found themselves in the middle of one sunny afternoon in the library where Reborn had been reading the newspaper with his espresso.

"Reborn," Hayato was clearly unhappy and strained. "The boss wants to talk to you about a job. Can you come now?"

"I always have time for the boss, when he needs me," Reborn replied, setting aside the paper and standing. It was a formulaic response, a pattern he and Hayato had created between them to soothe the boy's nerves when he was sent to ask things like this.

Reborn often thought Hayato had one of the hardest jobs of all of them, because he had to ride herd on Tsuna and communicate for him. It meant that while Tsuna was giving the orders, Hayato often had to relay them, and face the backlash of emotion. So he'd decided early on that he would be one of the people Hayato could always rely on to be obedient to Tsuna's will.

"Let's go, Hayato." Reborn led the way to Tsuna's office, calm and steady, which calmed Hayato as well. "I had a feeling I'd hear something today."

"I'm sorry, Reborn," Hayato said softly, tossing his hair back. "This isn't one I'd want to go out on myself, but if I thought I could do it, I'd do it for you. The boss is unhappy about it, even more so than usual."

"It's fine, Hayato," Reborn reassured him as he stopped in front of Tsuna's door. "I'll take care of it."

Stepping into Tsuna's office, his eyes were drawn immediately to his boss. That was the blessing and curse of Tsuna for Reborn. He was drawn overwhelmingly to Tsuna at all times, and it was hard to look away if he had a choice in the matter. Today, his Tsuna looked exhausted, with dark bags under his eyes. He was pale and obviously unhappy, with his breakfast tray pushed off to the side of his desk, untouched.

"You haven't eaten yet," Reborn commented, moving over to the desk to sit across from him. "That's not healthy, Tsuna. We've talked about this. That flame inside you requires fuel. If you don't take care of yourself, it will consume you."

"I know," Tsuna replied, shooting him a rueful look. It was the source of a regular argument between them, one that Reborn always won in the end. "Hayato's next stop is for something a little warmer than what I forgot to eat this morning, Reborn."

"Good." Reborn leaned back into his chair and nodded his approval of that lazily. "You have a job for me?"

"I do." Tsuna bit his bottom lip unhappily and handed over the dossier that had been sitting in front of him. "I'm sorry Reborn. I don't like this at all, but you can only give a person so many chances before you have to accept that they're always going to be a problem."

Reborn took the file from him and nodded his understanding before opening it and taking the time to read it thoroughly while Hayato brought in a new tray for Tsuna and took the old away. He firmly continued reading it until he heard Tsuna start eating and kept reading until he was satisfied with the amount of food that had been eaten. Some days, it was all about winning the battle by holding out the longest and waiting out the opposition.

"You've spoken with Aria about this?" He asked Tsuna, finally looking up from the paperwork. "Normally this would be something that a Family would handle themselves."

"She asked me personally if we would take care of it for her," Tsuna replied, looking sad for a moment before switching to Japanese for privacy's sake. "It's breaking her heart to have to do this, but the information is too reliable. He's definitely selling her secrets and putting Aria-san and her entire Family at risk."

"Then it's not a problem, Tsuna." Reborn nodded his understanding and brought them back to Italian gracefully as he set the folder down onto the desk again. "I'll leave this afternoon. It shouldn't take more than a few days, really. I should be back by the weekend."

"Be careful Reborn," Tsuna said, watching him with anxious eyes. "He doesn't have the same sense of honor we do. Don't pick a fight with him or challenge him. Just kill him, take his box weapons and rings, and leave him to rot where he falls."

Reborn could only blink at Tsuna for a moment in shock. "This isn't like you, Tsuna. Why are you so angry?"

"There are only a few people in the world I'll never forgive for what they've done, Reborn. He's one of them. I want him dead and gone before he's ever a risk to our Family again." Tsuna's hands were clenched almost painfully on the arms of his chair, the knuckles white and strained.

Years ago now, Reborn had learned painfully that there were some things Tsuna would simply never tell him. They were dark and painful things, and it tore at him to watch him suffer with memories and information that none of the rest of them truly understood. He'd gained some glimmer of insight by simply watching Tsuna's choices and being there for him. He knew enough to realize Tsuna had seen or experienced something dangerous that Reborn didn't remember for some reason, no matter how he prodded his memory or what he tried to break the truth free from his own mind. Those were the times he cursed himself for his earlier choices to block out the past from himself. It had obviously made him more vulnerable to similar techniques.

When Tsuna was like this, there was only one thing Reborn could do to help him, and that was to obey without question. "Then I'll kill him for you."

Kyoya had asked Reborn once why, when he knew he was going out on a dangerous mission, he didn't stay the night and spend it with Tsuna before he left. Reborn's answer was simply that Tsuna wouldn't rest peacefully until the mission was done, and that as much as he enjoyed his time with Tsuna, he'd rather take care of what was bothering Tsuna, than watch him suffer. It was more efficient that way, and Tsuna was happier faster.

So he left the estate with a respectful bow to his boss and a promise to return as soon as possible. Their eyes met for a moment and he could see the comfort Tsuna took from the calm assurance in his eyes and his absolute comfort in taking on this mission. It was a nasty piece of work, but not one he was overly concerned about. He'd do it, and come home and comfort Tsuna. He'd take his time with the job, though, to make the bastard Tsuna hated so thoroughly suffer for whatever he'd done, or would have done, that hurt Tsuna so much.

Two days later, as he stood in the woods on the outskirts of the Giglio Nero estate, Reborn took aim at one of the roots of Tsuna's problems and blew a hole in his thigh with one sharp shot. As Genkishi fell to one side as pain blossomed unexpectedly in his body, Reborn blew a hole in the other leg, taking him fully to the ground. There was something dark and cold moving through him, the type of deep anger, almost rage that he hadn't truly felt since Tsuna appeared in his life.

"You're a fool," Reborn said, stepping out of the woods and making his way over to stand over him, a dark shadow of death. "To betray your boss, Genkishi, when she values you so much, isn't just foolish, it's suicide. Luckily I'm here to help you with that last part."

He didn't give the other man a moment to reply, because he had no interest in whatever the man would try to say. Instead, he took his final shot between Genkishi's eyes with no mercy. As he died on the ground, Reborn followed his orders and took every ring and box the other man had on his body, pocketing them. Then he pulled out a coin from his pocket and looked at it thoughtfully before placing it on the man's chest, watching the Vongola crest gleam in the afternoon sun. It was a strong sign to anyone else who would consider crossing the Vongola and their allies.

"Wherever you end up in the afterlife, you bastard, I hope you beg for forgiveness for an eternity for whatever you've done in this world or another, to make my Tsuna hurt like that."

With that, he left the corpse behind him and strolled back through the woods to his car. He'd have a Family messenger deliver the boxes and rings to Aria the following day, when she'd be expecting them. Within minutes he was on his way home, one hand busy on his cell phone, texting his confirmation to Hayato, knowing he'd inform Tsuna.

By the time he arrived back at the Vongola estate and parked, his head had cleared and his mood had calmed somewhat. He'd sworn long ago he'd never go to Tsuna when his temper had snapped. He stopped in the kitchens for a quick meal and headed down to his private quarters, knowing Tsuna was still in his office working, and that he'd been notified of the success of the mission, and his return to the estate.

Rather than disrupt the rest of Tsuna's day, he unpacked and changed into workout clothes and went to vent the rest of his temper in his private gym and sparring area. The idea of a close Family member betraying their boss that way infuriated him, especially with it being Luce's daughter put at risk. He realized he was proud of Tsuna for making this decision, and viciously satisfied that he'd been the one who had delivered the punishment for such betrayal. So to reassure his boss, he blew off the last of his steam with a hard workout in private.

He was toweling the sweat off and heading towards the bathroom for a shower when he heard his front door chime as it opened. Listening for a moment, he relaxed muscles that had tensed instinctively. The footsteps were familiar and meant that Tsuna was here with him. Detouring, he made his way out to the living room to meet him, dropping a kiss on his cheek as Tsuna shrugged out of his suit jacket.

"You smell," Tsuna told him, wrinkling his nose slightly as he dropped his jacket on the couch. "I say that with all the love in the world, but you really, really need a shower, Reborn."

"That's the smell of hard work, Tsuna," Reborn teased him before wrapping his arms around him, mercilessly rubbing sweat all over his shirt. "You should embrace it and be happy I work so hard for you."

Tsuna blushed and looked vaguely guilty for a moment before shaking it off and giving him a suspicious look. "You're picking on me, Reborn. I'm not fourteen anymore. I can tell when you're trying to mess with me."

"Tsuna, I'm hurt," Reborn replied, looking mournfully at him with puppy eyes. "How can you think something like that, after I've been away from you for days? Haven't I suffered enough?"

"Now I know you're fucking with me," Tsuna muttered before kissing him softly. "Otherwise you'd have told me to live with it and stripped me and we wouldn't be talking at all right now because I wouldn't be able to think."

Reborn laughed at that and pulled him close again, burying his face against Tsuna's neck and breathing him in for a long moment, feeling his spirit settled and calm as Tsuna's presence had its natural effect on his own fiery energy. "I missed you, Tsuna. I might pick on you for a few days until I forget being away from you for so long."

"It figures," Tsuna griped lightly, arms sliding around him tightly. "You can't just be all sweet and romantic like a normal person. When you miss me you have to pick on me." His soft laugh clearly indicated he didn't mind so much. "Welcome home, Reborn. I missed you, too."

Reborn kissed him again then, this time drawing it out to something long, slow, deep and sweet, his hands sliding up to cup Tsuna's face carefully. It was another part of their routine. No welcome home was ever the same. Sometimes it was sweet and romantic, others hot and passionate, and then sometimes it was filled with humor and everyday life, something Reborn cherished just as much as the other options.

"Let's go get cleaned up, Tsuna," Reborn whispered softly against his mouth, "and then we'll see about that other part, you know, making it so you can't think at all."

* * *

*Title translates to "Death is the final accounting".


	22. Interlude IV: Audentes fortuna iuvat

**Interlude IV: Audentes fortuna iuvat (Vongola Estates / Venice, Italy / Ten Years Future)**

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**A/N: **This interlude takes place at the same time as Chapter II, just ten years in the future. So here we see what happened on the other end of that switch between the young Hibari and the older. As such, it's definitely a bit smutty. So I'll give you your warnings here. You'll find sex between Hibari and Tsuna, and some as well between the two of them and Lambo, who would be finishing high school at this point in the story. There are also hints of random other pairings, but no actual action.

The next Interlude will be what happens after the younger and older Hibari switch back, and is also fairly steamy. After that, we'll return to the regular chapters. Enjoy!

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That Thursday had started out normally enough for Tsuna, with the exception that Reborn was away. This meant waking up in his suite upstairs rather than the private floor beneath the estate. It also meant the lottery was on, which always kept things a little interesting. Last night had resulted in damage so extensive that the baths had to be drained and cleaned, which left everyone a bit grumpy. He was also fairly sure Xanxus wasn't going to be speaking to him for at least a good couple of weeks if his snarling and the sparking flames as he'd left were any indication. He'd made a mental note to send over a case of the good stuff to make up for the incident, and hopefully they'd never speak of it again.

Still, he couldn't complain that today was all bad, especially with Lambo on his knees in front of him, mouth tight, hot and wet around his cock while he leaned back, panting roughly. The fact that he was leaning back against a rumpled and highly aroused Kyoya made it even better. His head was being pulled back and Kyoya was kissing him so thoroughly that he couldn't string a thought together. Things were starting to get to the point where he was ready to write off the rest of the afternoon and spend it naked and sticky. That thought in mind, he'd started slicking Kyoya's cock slowly, having already fumbled his pants open.

"Fuck, Kyoya," he panted, breaking the kiss roughly. "It's a good thing I don't have meetings today."

"You're the one who let the boy in," Kyoya told him, his own hands busy nudging Tsuna's pants the rest of the way down. "It always takes longer when you invite other people to play, too." He paused for a moment to pet Lambo's curls before tugging them both around a bit, giving him better access. As irritating as the kid could be, they were all fond of the teenager these days.

Lambo licked his way off of Tsuna and smiled sweetly up at Kyoya. "Hibari-san, I haven't seen you in a while. You don't come home enough."

It was a quiet form of protest, almost a complaint, and Lambo wielded it like a weapons expert. All of them realized the kid thought of them as family, not just Family, and that he was painfully attached to each of them in different ways. With Futa gone so much, it was even harder on him. While most of the Family had relocated to Italy, I-pin had chosen to remain behind with Nana in Namimori for now.

"I was working," he told the boy, crouching down long enough to kiss him just as thoroughly as he had Tsuna.

While the boy might still be weaker than the rest of them, his sheer determination and flair had gotten the Family through a lot of tough situations, and Kyoya appreciated that. It was a different kind of strength, but it had become something that, like Tsuna, bound them all together. So he would reward him.

He had just pulled himself up again, leaving Lambo dazed and starry-eyed, and turned back to Tsuna when the world shifted and a cloud of smoke exploded around him. The next thing Tsuna and Lambo saw was a much younger Kyoya as the smoke started to clear. Tsuna yelped softly and had his pants back up at the speed of light. As the younger Kyoya looked around and his face grew angrier and colder, Tsuna nudged Lambo gently with his knee.

"Lambo, why don't you go help Hayato in his office?" The order was clear in his voice and Lambo was up and gone in a flash, closing the door behind him, fully aware that he was probably somehow at fault for this.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, where am I?" Kyoya's voice was cold and full of outrage, which Tsuna couldn't help but find somewhat endearing at this point in his life. It was easy to forget how Kyoya had been when they were all so much younger.

"You're in Italy, Kyoya, and technically you should be twenty-seven right now. Unfortunately it looks like you were picking on Lambo again," Tsuna told him, leaning back against his desk and thanking every deity he could think of that his shirt was hanging out and that it covered the highly uncomfortable bulge in his pants. "You should really stop doing that. It never ends well."

"And what, exactly, was I doing here with you and the little beast?" Kyoya frowned at him disapprovingly as his eyes roamed methodically over Tsuna's office, cataloguing details.

"I don't think you really want to know the answer to that yet, Kyoya," Tsuna replied, shaking his head. "I'm not sure how long you're going to be stuck here, either. Can I get you something to drink, or eat?" Maybe something normal would help calm him down somewhat.

He should have put more thought into remembering what Kyoya was like as a teenager. The boy moved like the wind, and Tsuna dodged the blow that came at him by a hair before planting a hand on Kyoya's shoulder, sliding an ankle down to trip him and pinning him face down on the desk before holding him there with the full weight of his body. It was unfortunate for both of them that his body hadn't quite recovered from the earlier adventures and that became abundantly obvious to the teen as Tsuna's hips pinned his down.

"I'm not sixteen anymore, Kyoya," Tsuna murmured against his ear softly. "You've got a ways to go before you catch up to me in this time. After all, you taught me a lot of what I know."

The teen struggled under him relentlessly, which wasn't helping his problem at all. In fact, it was adding to it. "Kyoya! Fuck! Calm down or this is going to become really fucking embarrassing for both of us in a minute."

Kyoya froze beneath him as the more intimate details of their position and Tsuna's reaction started to trickle through his haze of anger, and then he trembled slightly and flushed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying not to be a pervert but you're not really helping with that at all," Tsuna muttered, pulling back carefully and releasing him. "Usually when there's wiggling around like that and we're that close together, one of us is doing it on purpose."

"Exactly what sort of perverse things have you manipulated me into doing with you, Sawada Tsunayoshi?" Kyoya glared at him as he slowly turned around and leaned against the desk, glaring at him.

"Well, there's a lot of sex, to be honest," Tsuna settled on the arm of the couch and smiled at him cheerfully. "Of course you don't just limit yourself to me. You tend to take your pick of whoever is in town when you are, and of course when you travel you usually pick someone to go with you that you think you'll enjoy." He paused, taking a perverse sort of delight in this. "You travel a lot with Reborn, Mukuro, Hayato, and sometimes when he's out of school you take Lambo with you."

He almost laughed when the teen just stared at him blankly for a while as he processed all of that. His face would go pink, then pale, then red, and then back to pink. His eyes had a dazed look Tsuna recognized all too well, as he'd sported it often enough when he was a teenager.

"Don't think too hard, Kyoya," he advised, standing again. "There's nothing wrong with what the adult you chose to do, here and now. You're happy, although I could wish you were happier. You enjoy your life a great deal, and you have a lot of people who would kill to keep you happy, including me, although Reborn may top me on that one. He worries and bullies you about it, but that's in his nature."

"The baby?" Kyoya blinked at him in shock. "I'm a child molester?"

He had to chuckle at that one, and then he moved over to the wall near his desk, where framed photographs covered almost every available inch. Gesturing Kyoya over, he pointed to one of himself, Kyoya and Reborn together, in which Kyoya was struggling vainly to get away from them and avoid the picture at all costs. He watched as those familiar eyes scanned the photo thoughtfully.

"He's not so young anymore. We fixed that for him a while ago." Tsuna placed a gentle hand on Kyoya's shoulder. "You and I both went through a lot to find a solution to his curse that would work."

"Hmm." Kyoya looked thoughtfully at the picture for a moment and then turned to Tsuna. "So we were…"

"Getting naked?" Tsuna grinned at him. "Yeah. Very naked, actually."

Kyoya flushed again, glancing away and it was more than Tsuna could resist. Knowing that most likely Kyoya wouldn't resist in a similar situation and having set firm rules to limit him because of that, Tsuna gave in to the urge and leaned in, kissing him slowly. He slid a hand into Kyoya's hair to hold him close as he nipped lightly at his mouth until the teenager gasped, and then he invaded his mouth, tongue slipping in to stroke and tease at him. When Kyoya started to respond clumsily, Tsuna practically purred his approval.

When he finally broke the kiss, they were both breathing heavily. He took his time, nipping at his bottom lip playfully and then licking it gently. Some part of him realized that this was very possibly the first kiss one of his closest friends had ever had. That part quickly became quite smug, and he squashed it for now. There would be plenty of time to gloat about that when time straightened itself out.

"I love kissing you, you know," Tsuna told him quietly, his free arm sliding around Kyoya's waist to pull him closer, pleased when he only lightly resisted the move. "I have since we were in high school. There's always something so strong and defiant about you. You remind me that I need to be strong, so that I don't have to rely on you to protect me."

"You… we… did this…" Kyoya looked slightly lost again, his mind clearly swimming with what he was hearing.

"A lot."

Tsuna moved carefully, kissing his way along Kyoya's jaw to his neck and then down, finding his favorite spot and licking it before sucking gently and nipping lightly, leaving a dark, visible mark on his skin. He wasn't being pushed away, or worse, assaulted with anything metal, so he continued on, letting his hands slide down Kyoya's back to pull their hips together tightly. When he realized that Kyoya was reacting very obviously to his attention, he hid a small smile against his neck and instead shifted his hips slightly, rubbing against him slowly. When Kyoya moaned softly and buried his face against Tsuna's neck, Tsuna lifted a hand to stroke his hair gently.

He would have been content with that but Kyoya shifted against him, hips pressing forward against his, even as he hid his face from view. It was a silent demand, one that Tsuna knew from years of familiarity, and he answered it without thinking. A few quick steps backed Kyoya to the desk again and Tsuna braced him against it while fumbling his pants open, his hand slipping inside as he knelt in front of him. Kyoya stared at him blankly in shock and then his eyes closed completely as Tsuna took him in, mouth sliding down over him in a wave of tight, wet heat.

It went embarrassingly quickly, although Tsuna could remember how easy it was to get off when he was a teenager and new to all of this. If he'd gone slower, or focused less, he probably could have drawn it out longer, but Kyoya tasted like himself, and the scent was familiar and that was all it took in the end for Tsuna to lose himself in pleasuring him. When Kyoya's hands fisted in his hair and he heard that dark voice cry out wordlessly as he spilled into Tsuna's mouth, he found he couldn't regret it in the least.

Silently, Tsuna cleaned him up and tucked him away, amused at how rumpled the teen looked now. Pulling himself to his feet, he leaned in and kissed Kyoya softly on the cheek before licking his lips playfully. It wasn't every day he was able to take advantage of this random time travel to deflower one of his Guardians in some way.

Nudging Kyoya over to the sofa to sit, Tsuna shook his head slightly and then went and fetched them both a drink from the bar, handing Kyoya a juice and holding his own hefty glass of whiskey. He had a feeling he'd need it if Kyoya remained here much longer in this form. He could better understand Kyoya's frustration with the time travel issue now.

"How did we start doing this?" Kyoya asked softly, watching him with intent eyes.

"It started with our spending more time together on the rooftop at school," Tsuna told him, willing to satisfy some of his curiosity. "I guess it probably has to do with how compatible our natures are. My sheer purpose in this Family, for all of you, is to harmonize with you and provide balance. To fill the spaces that are empty, sooth the anger, encourage the parts that need it. What I was able to give you was peace, while you taught me to be still and simply enjoy an experience, of any sort. We spent a lot of time napping on the roof, and then eventually elsewhere. It just grew from there."

Kyoya gazed at him thoughtfully then, while he drank his juice, before finally putting the bottle down on the coffee table and shifting on the sofa, his eyes resolute. Tsuna could practically see him working himself up to something and then he moved, straddling Tsuna to hold him in place, giving himself control over the situation. As he settled down onto Tsuna's lap, he leaned closer.

"Show me that kiss again, Sawada Tsunayoshi," he demanded and his eyes were almost hyper-focused.

"Happily, Kyoya." Tsuna paused for a moment and then made a decision. "I want you to remember, though, that what I do with you isn't just physical. I love you, and you're precious to me."

"Shut up and kiss me," Kyoya ordered, leaning forward to press their lips together roughly.

Being wiser these days and not inclined to argue with him, Tsuna obeyed. He'd noticed the lessening of tension in Kyoya's body, however, as he'd talked to him and that was enough for now. He focused instead on pleasing him and teaching him all at the same time. Kyoya practically purred in his arms and Tsuna let his hands wander over him slowly while he kissed him over again.

Tsuna had reached the point where he was sure he was going to die of arousal when the Kyoya in his arms vanished in a puff of smoke. Sighing softly, he reached out for his drink again and settled in to wait for the transition to take place fully. He made sure to take a few good swigs of it before facing the adult Kyoya again. Given the time of year, he had a pretty good idea of what his Kyoya had been up to while away.

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*Title translates to "fortune favors the bold".


	23. Interlude V: Ad arbitrium

**Interlude V: Ad arbitrium (Vongola Estates / Venice, Italy / Ten Years Future)**

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**A/N:** This Interlude directly follows Interlude IV, continuing with the return of Hibari from the past. As such, it contains sex. Specifically you'll find 1827, 2718, R18, and R2718. Also there are mentions of random other pairings as always. Next we'll return to the regular story!

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As the pink smoke cleared, his familiar Kyoya moved forward to join him, stealing his drink and taking a swig. Settling onto the leather cushion, he leaned back and sighed. It was a sign of their familiarity with each other that he didn't promptly shove Tsuna off the sofa and onto the floor when the other man swung himself around and settled his head in Kyoya's lap.

"You were so cute and angry when you were younger, Kyoya," Tsuna teased lightly, hand tangling in his tie to tug him down into a whiskey-flavored kiss. There was something addictive about the way he kissed that managed to lure Tsuna into his web no matter how hard he tried to resist. Tsuna licked along Kyoya's bottom lip as he pulled away and settled back into his lap. "I had to move fast to keep all my important bits attached. You were so pissed off, and then later I thought you were going to faint, you were so red."

"You just gave me my first hickey and my first blowjob ten years in the future, you perverted bastard, and you weren't going to stop there. I should bite you to death on principle." He wouldn't, of course, but it was habit now and a good way of getting his point across. "What kind of leader gives hickeys to teenagers? You're a bad example to our younger Family members."

"So says the man who rubbed himself off on my poor virgin ass on the roof of the high school. We won't even talk about what you do to poor Lambo when I'm not looking." Tsuna snorted and grinned up at him playfully. "You must have enjoyed yourself in the end, being so nice to me after all of it was over."

"You'd have ruined your uniform if I hadn't cleaned you up," Kyoya replied, setting the glass down on the end table. "This shifting of things you're doing in the past is enough to twist the brain, Tsunayoshi. The sex isn't bad, but finding my task list adjusting itself is a bit disturbing. Every time I turn around, something's changed. I'm waiting for the people I've killed to start popping up alive again."

"I'm sorry, Kyoya," Tsuna sat up and leaned against his chest, arm sliding around his shoulders. "The worst of it should settle down over the next few months and time will smooth out again. Can I make it up to you in the meantime?"

He lifted Tsuna up and resettled him properly astride his lap, his hands sliding down his sides to cup his ass, squeezing lightly. "Give me the rest of the day, then. I'm leaving for Japan tomorrow afternoon. You'll have to get by without me for a couple of weeks."

Tsuna leaned in and kissed him then, starting with a slow and sweet brush of lips that grew over the next few breaths when his tongue slipped out to lick at Kyoya's mouth, forcing him to moan at the sensation. He ended his moan with a growl as Tsuna took shameless advantage, invading his mouth as his other arm wound around his neck. When the kiss broke, they were both panting slightly.

"Do you really have to go?" Tsuna asked, looking at him with sad eyes. "I hate it when you're not where I can see you when I want to. I know you're taking him with you, and I shouldn't worry, but you always end up brawling with someone or some group when you go home. I don't know whether to be more worried about both of you, or the damage assessment that'll come in when you go wild together and pick a fight."

Kyoya gave up his grip on Tsuna's ass to slide a hand into his hair and tangle it there, keeping him close. He'd learned years ago how hard it was for Tsuna to watch them all leave, time and time again, while he was constrained for the most part to the estate, its grounds and the subterranean base for his own safety. They all knew that it ate at Tsuna to watch them go out and fight, while he only emerged in times where his full power was truly needed.

"There are things I want to check on, Tsunayoshi. It's just research," he replied, running his other hand along Tsuna's spine reassuringly. "We'll bring you back a souvenir. If you pout enough, I might leave the bird to keep you company."

"Then stay here for the night." Tsuna's fingers set to work undoing Hibari's tie and tugging it off. "That way I'll have good memories to hold me over."

"Shameless, aren't you?" Kyoya scolded him lightly, but let him have his way for now. A needy Tsuna came with excellent benefits such as long, hot sex and sleeping wrapped around Tsuna possessively in a way that none of the others could object to except possibly Reborn, who was supposed to be out of town for the night. He planned to take advantage of that to indulge himself shamelessly. "Like you don't know you have us on a tight leash. All of us."

"I never hear you complain," Tsuna teased before setting to work on Kyoya's shirt, clever fingers opening the buttons one at a time and then pushing the fabric back and out of the way. "I'd give you up if you wanted me to, but I'd hate every minute of it."

"As if anyone could pressure me to give up anything I enjoy," Kyoya snorted, amused at the idea. "I don't care what you and Reborn say; I'm fine the way I am. You two worry like old women."

He purred lightly when Tsuna's teeth and tongue began exploring his chest. Willing to indulge Tsuna for now, he worked to get as much annoying fabric off of his lover as possible. It was rare for Tsuna to be this clingy, so Kyoya assumed that seeing the younger version of him was what brought this on. This sort of behavior was normal only when Tsuna started to think about the vulnerabilities of the people he cared about, which Kyoya considered foolish and overly sentimental. That didn't mean he wouldn't take shameless advantage of it, however. It was rare to have so much time alone with him, after all.

When they were both bare to the waist, he traced his fingers along Tsuna's back while his eyes drifted over his chest, identifying by memory every line of muscle and every scar that marked him. It was rare, with Ryohei's healing abilities, for any of them to have a wound long enough for it to scar, but it happened. Sometimes they were in different locations and healing wasn't available, or there were more dangerous wounds to be healed first, and a smaller wound had to be left to heal on its own. Rather than worrying over them, Kyoya saw them as marks of honor that any true warrior would carry.

The most prominent was the one that was also one of the earliest. A round, violent marring of the skin along his stomach that was a decade old now, and which had a twin on Tsuna's back. They'd almost lost him that time, although none of them had known until the damage was done and healed again. It had unnerved them, but the closure that had come with the knowledge of the injury and its healing had kept them from overreacting. His fingers moved on and found and trailed over a long line that wrapped along Tsuna's left hip.

He remembered that wound clearly. It had been his fault for not moving fast enough, just a second too slow to pull away from an enemy and then Tsuna had been there in front of him, guarding him. It hadn't been a particularly dangerous wound compared to the others they'd both taken in that fight, but it had bled freely and had been the one that had finally broken Kyoya completely. He'd thrown himself into the violence surrounding them to block the image from his head and blocked everything else from his mind, losing control completely. When he'd come back to himself later, there hadn't been enough left of any of their opponents to question and Tsuna was on top of him, pinning him to the ground and bleeding on him from that same wound, amongst others.

"Kyoya," Tsuna bit a nipple sharply, drawing out a sharp hiss from him, before licking it to soothe it, "don't get lost in the past. It makes you grumpy."

"Do that again," Kyoya ordered roughly, his back arching slightly, letting the past slip away for now. He could brood on the plane to Japan if he felt like it and if his companion would allow it. That one was demanding and overwhelming at the best of times, even for Kyoya.

"So bossy," Tsuna replied, laughing, but obeyed, alternating his attention between both nipples while his hands slid down to fumble his slacks open.

Kyoya lifted his hips slightly to help him, because getting them down and out of the way meant he was one step closer to being buried balls-deep in Tsuna, with the strong possibility of a blowjob first that would leave him sweating and panting. He was rewarded for his help when Tsuna slid off his lap and to his knees on the floor, taking Kyoya's clothing with him, stopping to get rid of his shoes and socks along the way.

He watched as Tsuna started at his ankles and licked and nipped his way up his leg, reaching his upper thigh and pausing to rub his cheek along the length of his cock before moving down again to start over on the other leg. It was lazy and indulgent, and designed to drive him absolutely insane, something Kyoya was both familiar with and wary of, as losing too much control with Tsuna always came with repercussions. He was being prodded and pushed, tested in ways designed to bring out his more dangerous instincts.

"Tsunayoshi," Kyoya snarled, hips lifting instinctively, "don't be such a fucking tease." He slid a hand down to fist it roughly in Tsuna's hair. "He'll be pissed if you tease me into marking you the way you want me to, and as much as I'm attached to you, I'd rather not pull lead out of my ass when he shoots me just because I indulged you."

Tsuna settled back onto his heels again and blushed ruefully before chuckling. "Is that your way of telling me to hurry the hell up, Kyoya?"

"Yes. I don't like being shot. It stings and leaves unsightly marks." With a gentle tug, he pulled Tsuna to his cock. "Give me what I want."

"Yes, Kyoya."

Tsuna grinned at him and took him into his mouth, tongue sliding down the length of him wickedly. A decade of familiarity and practice had Kyoya's eyes fighting not to roll back as his hand tightening in Tsuna's hair. Wet, tight heat was all he could comprehend for a long moment before Tsuna's head began to move, bobbing over him slowly and then all he could do was moan and try not to choke him as his hips bucked up roughly.

For those drawn out minutes that he lost himself in the feel of Tsuna's mouth, Kyoya couldn't see, hear or feel anything else. It wasn't until he heard the creak of the door to the office that he refocused, realizing he'd been dangerously lost in sensation, his hips lifting over and over again to fuck Tsuna's mouth. Glancing up, he glowered slightly at the dark figure leaning against the door and then promptly ignored him, hand tugging firmly to encourage Tsuna, who increased his efforts until Kyoya's brain gave out altogether and he spilled himself in hot waves into Tsuna's mouth.

"Now that's what I call a pretty sight," the dark, smooth voice was full of amused affection. "Definitely worth making the trip back today instead of tomorrow."

Tsuna licked his way off of Kyoya after swallowing him down. "You made it back! I was hoping I'd be able to delay him long enough for you to get here before he decided he had to go and pack or something equally evasive."

Reborn pushed off from the door and closed and locked it behind him, tossing his hat and jacket onto a nearby chair. "I rushed after you called and told me he was planning to slip out while I was away. It's just like him, the little brat."

"You didn't have to rush," Kyoya sniffed, glaring at him slightly while trying to catch his breath. "It's not like I won't be coming back eventually. I didn't need to see you before I left."

"Is that why you decided to go while I was away?" Reborn asked, stalking over to him and crouching next to Tsuna. "I would have offered to go with you. Tsuna would have understood."

Kyoya did the unthinkable then, and blushed lightly before looking away from the both of them. "Tsunayoshi knows I'm not traveling alone."

"So he told me," Reborn chuckled softly and leaned forward, sliding a hand up Kyoya's chest slowly, lazy fingers drifting over his skin. "Are you sure it's a safe idea, Kyoya? Spending so much time alone with him? You're both very temperamental, to say the least."

"I invited him," Kyoya replied, shivering slightly at the touch and moving into it at the same time. "And it's none of your business, or Tsunayoshi's. I can spend time with whomever I wish."

"Of course you can, Kyoya," Tsuna rushed to reassure him, dropping a kiss on his inner thigh. "It's just natural for us to worry about you in things like this. You're special to us."

"If you want someone to baby, Tsunayoshi, go fucking knock up one of the girls," Kyoya snarled, even as his body reacted eagerly to their attention. "I don't need a babysitter."

"Language, Kyoya," Reborn scolded him before pinching a nipple sharply, making him gasp. "Tsuna is allowed to worry because he knows that man better than almost anyone else. If he's concerned, then I'm concerned. It doesn't mean we'd tell you not to go." Leaning in, he kissed the outraged young man deeply, claiming his mouth possessively.

"Please understand, we just don't like the idea of you getting hurt," Tsuna said, sliding his arms around Kyoya's waist and resting his cheek on his hip. "If you're comfortable with it, then we won't worry, Kyoya. I swear." He looked up at his friend with wide, pleading brown eyes as Reborn released him finally.

"You're both a couple of mother hens," Kyoya grumbled, falling back onto the couch sideways and pulling them with him in a tangle of limbs. "If I want to spend my trip being fucked stupid it's my choice. In fact, I barely had to mention the trip before he realized he had some sort of business to do in Japan as well. So stop fussing. Consensual sex is just that."

"If you're sure," Reborn replied, and let the issue go for now. His silent nod to Tsuna indicated clearly that he'd already made sure they could monitor the trip as needed, and Tsuna relaxed as well. They'd be doing some shameless spying over the next few days. "I'm still pissed you were going to sneak out while I was gone, though. I should kick your ass around the training room for that."

"We could do that, or you could get over it and we could do something just as fun that won't require Tsunayoshi to die of frustration," Kyoya told him, fingers already working on getting Reborn out of his shirt. "He's been shamelessly teased all afternoon. We were having such a good time and then the cow-sheep interfered with his toy, and Tsunayoshi proved what a terrible pervert he is by molesting my teenaged self."

"I wasn't nearly as bad as you were," Tsuna fired right back, his own hands working to get rid of his own pants and then Reborn's. "We should just call it even and admit we've scarred ourselves for life."

"I personally have no problems with what occurred, although it does prove that you're just as much of a pervert as I told the teenaged you that you are." Kyoya paused for a moment to review the content of that statement and then shrugged it off. "This time travel is annoying."

Reborn was laughing at the both of them now, sprawled next to them on the large sofa and absolutely roaring with laughter, his arm wrapped around his stomach as he slowly devolved to wheezing. He looked up only to find both Tsuna and Kyoya giving him dirty looks and all he could do was grin wickedly at them. Being surrounded by all these kids might wear him out some days, but it was never boring.

"Shut up, old man," Kyoya snarled at him before crawling up his body and kissing him roughly, sprawling out over him lazily. "No one cares what you think anyway."

"Temper, temper, Kyoya," Reborn scolded him lightly, but slid his hands down Kyoya's back and grasped his hips, pulling him closer. "I came all the way home early to see you before you left."

"You came home so you could get a last good fuck in with me before I left, you mean," Kyoya told him, letting himself be pulled and groaning softly as the friction between their bodies ripped through his brain. "Not that I'm complaining."

He didn't even glance back as he felt Tsuna settle in behind him. His earlier plans for how the afternoon would go would have to be abandoned, given the change in circumstances. Not that Kyoya would complain, however. If there was anything he enjoyed more than burying himself in Tsuna, it was being pinned between the two of them. That always resulted in hours of hot, sticky pleasure. So when slick fingers probed at him, he accepted it, hips lifting slighting in approval.

"That's it, Kyoya," Reborn purred before pulling him into a deep kiss, tongue slipping into his mouth to drive him crazy to the point where he barely noticed Tsuna's fingers pressing into him until they drifted over that spot deep inside him that made him see stars and arch into Reborn, rubbing against him wantonly.

Tsuna laughed softly behind him and Kyoya felt teeth graze the nape of his neck as he also felt his warmth appear, pressed against his back. A warm, slick tongue followed, drifting over his skin in familiar patterns, tracing lines of muscle and old scars. Groaning softly, Kyoya leaned back into him slightly and turned his head for a kiss that Tsuna gave him willingly. As they kissed he could feel Reborn sliding back from him slightly.

Breaking the kiss, Kyoya refocused, glancing down at Reborn and then smirking as he leaned forward to take him in his mouth, tongue sliding down the length of him wickedly. This was something he particularly enjoyed with Reborn and he lost himself in taste and texture, purring softly when Reborn's hand fisted in his hair. His brain surfaced again slightly when Tsuna's fingers disappeared from his body and the weight behind him shifted. When Tsuna pressed into him, Kyoya groaned around Reborn, hands clenching on his thighs as he lifted his hips back and up to ease the way.

He could feel Tsuna struggling to go slowly and be careful, and it pissed him off. Hooking Tsuna's leg with his own, he pulled Tsuna forward while pressing back, taking him in fully and making him swear against the back of Kyoya's neck roughly. Reborn chuckled at the both of them and distracted Kyoya by bucking up into his mouth, refocusing him yet again.

When Tsuna started to move, his hands sliding down to Kyoya's hips as he began to thrust, control strained between all three of them and then snapped when Kyoya swallowed around Reborn. From there it was a mad dash of movement, Tsuna burying himself in Kyoya, Kyoya taking Reborn in urgently and Reborn practically fucking Kyoya's mouth with his hand painfully tight in his hair.

It was Tsuna who slipped over the edge first, having been aroused, teased and tormented for so long. His teeth sank into the nape of Kyoya's neck and his hands pulled Kyoya's hips roughly against his own as he shuddered over his back and spilled into him deeply. He snarled against Kyoya's neck, chest rumbling, and that set Reborn off. He pulled Kyoya down as his hips lifted a last time and spilled into his mouth as Tsuna's hand slid around Kyoya's hip to stroke his cock tightly.

That was all it took for Kyoya to lift off Reborn and growl deeply as he spilled over both of them, his body painfully tense for a long moment until he slumped forward onto Reborn who caught him carefully. Tsuna slumped over onto both of them, gasping as he tried to relearn how to breathe. He wasn't the only one and they settled there for a few long minutes, limp and panting.

"Definitely worth the early trip home," Reborn murmured, chuckling softly at the two slumped over him. His chuckle evolved into a full laugh when both of them gave him a look and snorted in synch before returning to their comfortably slumped state.

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*Title translates to "at will, at pleasure".


	24. Chapter XVIII: Si vis pacem, para bellum

**Chapter XVIII: Si vis pacem, para bellum (Sawada Household / Namimori / Present Day)**

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**A/N:** Now we return to your regularly scheduled story. I wanted to drop a quick thank you in for everyone who has taken the time to leave a review. They mean a lot to me and encourage me to continue working on this, and the following story arcs that are also in the works. I hope you continue to enjoy reading.

* * *

Knowing that Reborn was efficient and knowing how absolutely insane his father was, Tsuna wasn't the least surprised to see his father waiting for him at the gate to the house when he came home from school with the kids a few days later. As with every one of his visits, the yard was filled with drying laundry and the old man was wandering around in his underwear in the yard. Tsuna could feel his left eye start to twitch at the sight of it. He knew how smart his dad was by now, and he knew construction and oil fields had nothing at all to do with what his dad spent his days doing. The illusion he maintained was understandable but it pissed him off anyway.

"Do you just run all your laundry through a mud pit before coming home?" he snarled grumpily, glaring at his father as his eye continued to twitch slightly. "Just so Mom has to do your laundry for you? Does something about the smell of soap get you all worked up, old man?"

"It keeps your mother happy, Tsuna," Iemitsu replied, tossing an arm around Tsuna's shoulders cheerfully, squeezing him close. "If you haven't noticed, she's not happy unless she's taking care of people."

"I have noticed," Tsuna squirmed under the weight of his arm, not at all familiar with this sort of fatherly affection anymore. "I've also noticed that given your itinerary lately, you should be home visiting her more often than you have been and spending less time sticking your nose into what I'm doing. I'm going to talk to Grandfather and have him beat you if you don't come see her at least one weekend a month from now on."

"Oh ho! Grandfather now, is it?" his father grinned at him in amusement. "My baby boy has grown up so much these past few years." He wiped a fake tear of pride from his eye.

"ARGH! You're so full of shit," Tsuna grumbled, trying not to stomp his way into the house like the teenager he really was. "Anyway, why were you waiting here? I can't talk to you about what I need to talk to you about when Mom's hanging around listening in. It'll just freak her out." No one, absolutely no one, wanted to do anything that upset Nana. It was one close to being listed as one of the top ten suicidal choices to make in Japan these days.

"It's been so long since I've been able to greet you as you came home from school," the old man mourned, following Tsuna up to his room. "I wanted to see your cute face in your school uniform, all fresh and educated when you walked home."

Tsuna thought back to his day at school. He'd skipped three classes. One to nap on the roof with Hibari, one to walk to the store with Hayato and one to make phone calls relating to Family business. He was fairly sure he wasn't glowing with a freshly educated look. He might have a freshly irritated look, or an impending migraine look, but he doubted he looked particularly educated.

"You should come upstairs tonight then, after Reborn beats the classes I missed today into me," he replied, changing out of his uniform quickly. He tugged on jeans and a t-shirt before turning back to his father. "You brought what I requested with you?"

"Lal is off getting reacquainted with Reborn," Iemitsu replied, leaning in the doorway casually. "And I brought you something else I thought you might need. Consider it a special gift from your loving father."

Tsuna blinked at him in confusion. Gifts from his father usually involved missions of near death or life-threatening Family secrets. "Something else, Dad?"

"Go down to the kitchen and see what I mean." He stepped out of the doorway to let Tsuna through.

Curious now, Tsuna hopped down the stairs at a high speed, barely avoiding falling before he hit the bottom and whirled around the corner into the kitchen to see. He spotted what his father meant almost immediately. His mother had the surprise cornered and was practically stuffing food into him in a very Mom-like way.

"Basil!" Tsuna grinned with pleasure at seeing his friend again and reached to pull him into a tight hug. "I didn't know you were coming too! This is great."

Basil was up and returning his hug in a flash, both of them grinning now. Between projects and school and schedules, they hadn't been in the same place for close to a year now. Keeping up with each other by email and texting worked well enough but it wasn't the same as sitting down with someone and just talking.

"Yes," Basil agreed, obviously happy as well. "I'm staying for as long as I'm needed here, although I'm not sure what I'll be doing yet. My master wasn't clear about it."

"Because he doesn't know his ass from his elbow," Tsuna muttered, rubbing his jaw ruefully. "I'm sure it'll all be cleared up soon. I'm sorry everyone else isn't here to say hello, though. I know they'd be happy to see you. We'll plan something while you're in town to celebrate."

It took Tsuna almost an hour to pry Basil away from his Mom and also corral his Dad out the door as well. Finally he convinced her they had to go do some "man-shopping", whatever that meant, but would be back soon. Iemitsu's assurance that he'd be staying for at least a week this time helped as well. Tsuna dragged them out of the house and to the office as quickly as possible.

"Reborn and Lal are meeting us at the office?" he asked his father as they walked. It would be a pain to have to go looking for them as well. The work involved in finding Reborn when he didn't want to be found was something he wasn't sure he was up to today.

"Yes. They headed off that direction after we arrived. They were muttering something about someone going missing, but I didn't catch all of it." Iemitsu eyed his son thoughtfully. "I don't suppose you know what that might be about?"

"Grandfather knows everything I know," Tsuna replied, shrugging. He didn't particularly like misleading his father, but then his father had made an art of misleading him in the past. "So if he hasn't got any information for you, I can't help with that either. As far as I know, no one is missing. Maybe it's someone outside of my area?"

"I suppose it's possible." Tsuna didn't like that look his father was giving him, so he gave his old man his best innocent teenager face in reply. He had a pretty damned good idea exactly which person Lal was trying to locate, and Tsuna also knew that Verde wasn't missing; he'd just been relocated. So he hadn't lied at all, just misled slightly.

Wanting to avoid any other questions along those lines, Tsuna focused the conversation instead on all the sightseeing they'd done in Italy while visiting. He described the various places they'd gone and all the antics of the kids. He even pulled out his cell phone to show off some of the pictures he'd kept on it.

"Rumor has it, Tsuna," his father said thoughtfully, "that you made a stop to see the Vendicare as well, while in Italy."

That at least Tsuna had no problem discussing with his father and Basil. It was public knowledge and it wasn't as if Mukuro wasn't currently running around the Vongola estate freely. "They had something that belonged to me and I wanted it back. They were very cooperative about returning it to me when I asked nicely."

"I heard you destroyed a whole floor of the prison, Sawada-dono," Basil said, his eyes glowing with excitement. "Is it true? Is it?"

"No, it's not," Tsuna laughed at his excitement. "I did destroy the holding tank because I felt that they weren't moving quickly enough." He paused, frowning slightly. "It was one of the most horrible things I've ever seen, his body just floating in there, eyes sealed shut, his arms and legs chained."

Iemitsu shook his head in bemusement. "I'm surprised Reborn allowed you to do it at all. He's been vehement about leaving Rokudo Mukuro right where he was and keeping as much information about him away from you as humanly possible."

"Reborn didn't have a say in the matter," Tsuna replied, leading them up the stairs to the office. "It was my decision and Grandfather agreed. He didn't complain much, however."

"When did my baby grow up so much?" Iemitsu mourned sadly, clinging to Basil. "He used to be so cute and innocent."

"Sawada-dono is still cute!" Basil defended his friend loyally. "He's just becoming a good boss now."

"Thank you, I think, Basil." Shaking his head at the both of them, Tsuna keyed the alarm off and opened the office door, holding it for them. "Come on in. If Reborn and Lal are here, we can discuss everything now."

He would have said more but he was busy ducking the small body flying at him with her foot extended and rolling forward into the room as his only other option involved falling backwards down the stairs. He'd barely rolled to his feet again when his arms went up to block a flurry of punches. It took him a minute but he finally managed to get the sofa between himself and Lal, allowing him to catch his breath.

"It's good to see you too," he muttered, ducking as she flew at him over the sofa in a flash and hopping over it in the other direction before snagging his father and shoving him in front of him as a shield. "Sorry dad. Take it like a man." He grinned as he heard Lal collide with his father's chest and the both of them wheezed slightly.

"Not bad, Sawada," Lal said, finally settling back onto the floor. "You're not nearly as helpless as you were the last time I saw you. Reborn must be training you hard these days."

"You have no idea," Tsuna replied, crouching down to talk to her rather than bending over, which he considered to be rude. It wasn't Lal's fault she was so small. "You're looking as lovely as ever, Lal."

"Brat," she whacked him across the cheek for flirting without a second thought. "I see Colonnello's been visiting you as well, if you're saying ridiculous things like that to girls these days."

"He might have stopped by a few months back and given me a few flirting lessons. He said it was good for a boy my age to learn things like that." Tsuna grinned, unrepentant. "I'm sorry to drag all of you all the way over here. Well, all of you except for the old man." He looked up to see Reborn leaving his private office and glanced at his desk through the door, frowning slightly to see his laptop open. "Did we interrupt something? I didn't realize you two might be working."

"It's all right, Tsuna," Reborn said, hopping up to settle on the sofa comfortably. "We were talking with Viper and used your webcam."

Tsuna's eyebrow went up at that and his mind rolled a list of things that they might want to talk to the psychic about, although again he had a pretty good idea. "Was it important? Dad mentioned that you were both worried about something."

"Our agents have lost track of Verde," Reborn replied, pulling a mug of coffee out of what seemed like nowhere. Tsuna really wanted to learn that trick someday. "So there's some concern that he may be getting ready to launch another attack against you in the hopes of acquiring the Vongola rings."

Tsuna sighed and gestured for the others to make themselves comfortable in the conversation area. He offered coffee and other beverages while rearming the alarm system and locking the door. Once everyone was settled, he claimed a chair for himself and took a long sip of coffee while his mind spun, calculating options and angles and results until it finally settled again.

With this group, the truth was the best option and now that the mission was complete and Verde was settled in where he'd be spending the next couple of decades if Tsuna had anything to say about it, there was no point in letting them worry. He couldn't come up with any particular reason why he shouldn't share the information now, especially when being forthright now with Reborn would very likely keep him from being too suspicious when Tsuna met with Xanxus again. Anything that kept Reborn from digging around in that particular plan of Tsuna's was worthwhile.

"Verde is currently in Vongola custody," he told them, hands wrapping around his own mug of coffee. "Varia acquired him as a potential asset about a week ago and relocated him to Venice. Grandfather is providing him a research lab and resources in exchange for directed research that will benefit the Family. In addition, Mukuro and Viper erased all memory Verde had of his experiments with the toxins that were so effective against the Arcobaleno during the trials. His labs have all been swept and destroyed. No data of that research remains."

He flushed a bit as four pairs of eyes stared at him for a full minute in dead silence. "What? You wanted to know what happened to him, didn't you?"

"How do you know about this, Tsuna?" Reborn asked him, his eyes hyper-focused on Tsuna now as he set his coffee cup aside. Tsuna blinked at him and shifted back into his chair just a bit more, moving away from that look instinctively. That look usually brought pain and weeks of training with it.

"It was one of the things Grandfather and I discussed while I was in Italy," he replied vaguely, hiding behind his coffee mug.

"By discussed, you mean that he told you about his plans?" Iemitsu asked, his gaze also sharpening thoughtfully as he watched his son.

"Ah, well…" Tsuna hadn't been the focus of this kind of attention since returning home from Italy, and he'd forgotten how intimidating it could be.

"I heard," Lal said thoughtfully, leaning back into the sofa, "that the Varia came to Japan recently. It was a solid rumor, to the point where I almost dispatched a protective unit to guard Tsuna, but before I could move, they were back in Italy."

Tsuna's mind flew back to the Varia visit and he twitched at the memory. His nose still ached slightly when he thought about the punch Xanxus threw at him when he'd arrived and he couldn't resist giving it a rueful rub. Trying to explain the bruises and blood when he'd gotten home had been embarrassing, to say the least. Thankfully his legendary clumsiness had given him good cover on that one.

"Interesting," Reborn said, eyes sharpening even more as he watched Tsuna's movements like a hawk. "That was about the time you came home with that black eye and bloody nose, wasn't it, Tsuna?"

"Did you get into a fight with the Varia, Sawada-dono?" Basil looked like he wanted to check Tsuna for injuries and then run off to pick a fight with whoever had the nerve to attack him.

"I did not get into a fight with Varia," Tsuna stated clearly, rubbing his eyes as an excuse not to meet all of theirs. "I did, however, take a very solid punch to the face. Then I was called short, my virtue was called into question, and I think there was something in there about being stupid as well. He was pretty steamed."

"And they came all the way here so that Xanxus could punch you?" Reborn asked, leaving his seat now and moving ominously towards him, Leon in hand.

"Fine! Fine! Don't point anything dangerous at me, Reborn! I was going to tell you eventually anyway." Tsuna sighed and set his mug down. "Varia moved on my orders. Grandfather gave his approval, but the mission was my recommendation."

"You ordered the Varia to capture Verde. Capture, not kill, and to bring him back to Venice?" Reborn asked, returning Leon to his hat.

"I left Shouichi, Spanner, Mukuro and Shamal behind to handle the data wipe and memory modification. Shouichi and Spanner also designed the holding cell and lab that Verde is occupying. Once I managed to convince the little bastard that working with us was better than my personal favorite choice, which was removing him from the face of the planet, he conned me into a huge salary and agreed to the terms." Tsuna slouched slightly in his chair. "Shamal will remain behind in Venice helping him with some of the research before returning to Japan. The others should be back in the next week or so."

"You're telling me that my baby boy gave Varia orders that didn't involve assassination, and they followed them?" Iemitsu looked like he was going to cry before starting to practically glow. "You really are growing up, aren't you?"

"That didn't stop me from being punched in the face, now did it?" Tsuna grumbled, reclaiming his mug. "Right after I got over the frying pan to the head in Venice, too." He was beginning to wonder if the gods liked watching him get hit.

It was a mistake to lose focus and feel sorry for himself, which he quickly regretted. He almost lost his coffee completely when Reborn lashed out with Leon in a flash and suddenly Tsuna was wrapped in green rope. He squirmed for all he was worth but couldn't free himself as Reborn dragged him relentlessly towards the private office, the coffee remaining on the table in the other room after a quick save by Basil.

If there was one thing he knew it was that he really, really didn't want to be locked away from any possible help with a pissed off Reborn right now. That was never a good way to spend time. There was no help coming his way, however, as Lal and Iemitsu moved on to discuss the ramifications of the new addition to the Vongola staff and Basil listened to them eagerly.

The door shut behind them and the sounds from outside vanished ominously. Tsuna was hoisted up into a chair and the ropes shifted to bind him snugly to it. He squirmed again hopefully but there was no give in them at all.

"What on earth," Reborn started, hopping up onto his lap to glare at him, "made you think that was in any way, shape or form a good idea to act on without talking with me first, Tsuna?" The smack he gave Tsuna on the top of the head had him seeing stars for a good long minute.

He could understand why Reborn was upset, in a way. Tsuna had been his charge for years now and while he'd grown a lot, he was sure some part of Reborn still saw the kid that flinched at everything and couldn't think straight to save his life. That didn't mean it didn't piss him off to be treated like he was twelve again. Shaking the blow to the head off, he straightened in the chair and met Reborn's eyes.

"If you want to fight, Reborn, we can fight," Tsuna told him. "You're relying on my distaste of hurting Leon to keep me from breaking loose from this, and that's dirty. I'm not a kid anymore and I can handle you yelling at me and being pissed off at me without having to be tied up and forced to listen."

Reborn grumbled lightly, but Leon unwound from Tsuna's body and reshaped himself in Reborn's hand. Tsuna reached out to stroke his little head gently to reassure him. "Just because Reborn's a brute doesn't mean I can be mad at you, does it?"

Leon licked his finger affectionately and wandered up to reclaim his place on the brim of Reborn's hat. Resettling himself in the chair, Tsuna sighed and put his feet up, giving Reborn room to sit as well, while allowing some space between the two of them. Once his tutor was settled, Tsuna nodded his willingness to listen.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was, Tsuna?" Reborn frowned at him. "You have no comprehension of the kind of person he is and what he can do."

"Wait, which person are we talking about first? I'm thinking there's a few you're probably pissed about?" Tsuna asked.

"Verde." Reborn's face was unforgiving and Tsuna winced internally. "Didn't your last encounter with him teach you anything about what he's capable of, Tsuna?"

Tsuna's eyes unfocused and he leaned back, his head falling back to hit the top of the chair. "I think, even better than the rest of you, I know what he's capable of at this point. That's why I had to move now. I couldn't wait any longer and risk him getting any farther into what he's been working on. The results of his current avenue of research would have been devastating to the Family."

"What do you mean?" Reborn asked suspiciously.

"That toxin he used on all of you." Tsuna looked back down at him, his eyes haunted and dark instead of their normal warm brown. "I saw what it did to you. He's been investing a lot in related chemical components and distribution systems. It's possible he decided that killing the rest of you off might be the best option for freeing himself from the curse. Maybe he was being paid to research it? If that's the case, Shouichi and Spanner will find out from his data. Either way, it couldn't be allowed to continue. It was too dangerous."

"What would you have done if he'd declined your offer, Tsuna? Or you'd been unable to alter his memories?" Reborn was calming slowly and the frown was fading from his face as they talked and his look was turning more analytical and professional, which soothed Tsuna as well.

"I would have ordered Varia to execute him at the end of our conversation," Tsuna replied without a second thought. "There are thousands of other ways to build weapons and do research, and other geniuses, but there are only the seven of you plus Lal. The only one I'm willing to lose is Verde. That was the point of sending Varia to collect him, after all. He got the message, loud and clear."

Reborn looked calmer now, and his coffee had reappeared. Tsuna sulked a bit at that, having been forced to leave his in the other room when he was dragged off so brutally. Still, at least he wasn't tied up and being smacked anymore, so he'd take that as a win.

"I kept you out of it because I knew you'd react like that and storm off to do something about it yourself. You're really fucking stubborn, Reborn," Tsuna told him, trying to find an opening to steal the coffee from him without looking like he was. "There was no way in hell I was going to let you get anywhere near him when he might have found new ways to distribute that toxic crap."

Reborn neatly positioned himself to best drink his coffee while taunting Tsuna with it as he did. "At least you had the brains to talk with the Ninth about it."

"I needed his signature to force Varia to move. They're really stubborn about that." Tsuna shrugged lightly and adjusted his arms to make more room for his hands to move when he was ready to attempt his coffee theft.

"Which brings me to the next reason you need your head checked," Reborn said, sipping lazily. "In what world is it safe to invite someone who wants to kill you into your office without anyone there to protect you?"

"I had Xanxus here to keep an eye on the rest of them," Tsuna defended himself while making a swipe for the coffee, missing it by less than a millimeter. "Damn."

"I'm talking about Xanxus, Tsuna," Reborn smugly sipped his coffee.

"He doesn't really want to kill me," Tsuna replied, making another attempt and failing again. "I beat him fairly. He just doesn't want me to be weak and drag the family down."

"And he punched you because?" Reborn was barely moving in his easy dodges of Tsuna's grasping hands.

"He had some opinions, much like yours, about my choice to let Mukuro out of his tank," Tsuna told him, grumbling over his failed attempts. "So when he arrived, he decided to start with that complaint and make his displeasure clear."

"I knew you were up to something but I didn't think it was this big," Reborn murmured, swirling his coffee in the mug. "I'll have to keep a closer eye on you now."

Tsuna groaned and flopped back in the chair. That sort of talk meant lots of painful training. "Would it help you forgive me if I told you one of Verde's top priorities is research on how to get the lot of you at least back into adult bodies, if we can't break that curse?"

Reborn froze and looked up at him directly then, his eyes sharp and penetrating. "So this wasn't just about that weapon, then."

"If it was just the weapon, I'd have given an execution order from the start," Tsuna replied. "I won't ever forgive him for what he did."

"Tsuna, there are reasons that we exist in this form," Reborn said, frowning at him slightly.

"I know," Tsuna answered before he could go any further. "I know the reasons, but there have to be loopholes in this. I'll find them and give you all as much freedom as I can. Some sacrifices are too big for a person to handle alone."

"You've gotten so stubborn," Reborn left his perch on Tsuna's legs to settle his back against Tsuna's stomach and chest and offered his mug willingly. "You make it hard to argue with you about these things, now. It pisses me off and makes me want to make you run laps or something equally exhausting, just to punish you."

Tsuna took the mug gratefully and sipped thoughtfully. "I suppose you could do that, if it would make you feel better. It's not like I don't understand the meaning behind it by now. You train me like that when I've scared you."

"That insight of yours is becoming irritating too," Reborn grumbled as he snagged the mug back to take another sip. "You somehow got ahead of the curve I'd planned and this is what happens. I find you sneaking around kidnapping people in the night and enslaving them."

"It's definitely not slavery with what we're paying him," Tsuna protested indignantly.

"Semantics, Tsuna," Reborn teased him, and finished the last of the coffee. "Shall we go destroy every last vestige of freedom you have managed to retain, now?"

"I suppose we'll have to," Tsuna replied, sighing. "I can't die on you all, after all."

"Like I'd allow that to happen," Reborn snorted indignantly at the thought.

"That's why I need to make sure to keep you around and safe," Tsuna told him as Reborn hopped down and Tsuna stood, preparing to return to the others. "I'm relying on you to do the same for me."

"It's a deal then." Reborn nodded his agreement to Tsuna and they both turned to the task at hand, opening the office door to resume the discussion, or actually begin it, regarding Tsuna's future safety.

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*Title translates to "If you want peace, prepare for war".


	25. Chapter XIX: Ubi amor, ibi oculus

**Chapter XIX: Ubi amor, ibi oculus (Vongola Offices / Namimori / Current Day)**

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**A/N: **First, praise for my muse, Ai-chan. When I started writing this as a NaNoWriMo challenge, she cheered me on and offered endless feedback. Then she helped me plot it out through the next forty years. So she deserves a lot of credit for inspiring me.

Second, this chapter comes with a smut warning. This time, Gokudera/Tsuna.

Lastly, I just wanted to drop a note about some questions people have asked! Several people have asked about various characters that haven't appeared yet. I just wanted to reassure you all that there are no characters that have been written out. I simply don't feel comfortable swamping a chapter, any chapter, with a ton of characters. It confuses the plot too much. You'll see them eventually, however. Have faith!

I hope you enjoy this chapter. Next chapter, we see the return of several characters that I personally adore.

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There was, apparently, a great deal that went into protecting a mafia boss when there was the risk of an attempt on his life. Tsuna'd had some sort of vague idea of what it would involve, and had known it would certainly curtail what freedom remained in his life for a while, possibly quite a while, but he'd had no idea it would be so complex. When he and Reborn reentered the front office to rejoin his dad, Lal and Basil, there was paper everywhere. Lists, diagrams, charts, schedules and more were piled on every available surface.

Sighing, Tsuna cleared off his chair and Reborn's seat before refilling everyone's drinks for them. Thinking quickly, he decided that while the big decisions certainly would be made by the others in the room, it was his job to look after them while they planned. Mentally charting out what he thought they'd need, he pulled out his phone and stepped back into his office for a minute.

"Sorry everyone," he said ruefully, "but after looking at all this work, I'm thinking getting some food for all of you might be my first apology for what we're going to go through tonight."

When Reborn nodded a silent approval to Tsuna and his father also looked up with a suspiciously proud gleam in his eye, Tsuna left them to get started while he closed the office door again. Looking at his phone while writing out a short list at his desk, he dialed a familiar number. Normally when dealing with so many volatile personalities, he'd pick someone to run errands that would be calm and unobtrusive. This, however, was different. They were discussing protecting his life, and he knew that if he picked the wrong person, he could cause a lot of pain here. With that in mind, he dialed.

"Boss!" It was a surprisingly cheerful answer for so late in the day.

Hayato's voice always seemed to perk up when Tsuna reached out to him, something that Tsuna had noticed early on. It had made him uncomfortable at first, but he'd realized after a long talk with Takeshi that Hayato was so attached to him because he was, in truth, Hayato's first real friend. When he'd accepted that and worked with it, their relationship had continued to grow and improve, and Hayato's connections with the others had improved as well.

"Hayato," Tsuna chuckled at his enthusiastic greeting. "I'm sorry to drag you back out again, but I'm at the office with company and I don't have anything to feed them. If I gave you a list, would you run to the store for me and then join us for the evening? I think you should be involved in this conversation."

There was rustling on the other end of the line for a moment and then an affirmative sound from Hayato. "All right, fire away, boss. I'll get there as quickly as I can."

Tsuna gave him the list he'd come up with and thanked him before hanging up and returning to the other room. Things there had become moderately more organized now and they'd taken over a wall with charts, lists and diagrams. Thankfully his seat was still free and he sank into it with a sigh.

"Tsuna," Reborn glanced up from the papers spread out in front of him on the table. "We think we can arrange adequate coverage at all times, but there's something that concerns us."

"It's the household, Tsuna," Iemitsu said, leaning back on the sofa and sighing. "We can wire it, alarm it, arm it, hell we can plant landmines, but the fact is that it's not easily secured. Given the location, any attack on it puts not only the surrounding families at risk, but Nana and the children as well."

It was clear that all of them agreed that was not an acceptable risk. "You want me to relocate?"

"It'll take a little time, Tsuna," Reborn said, trying to console him somewhat. "We'll have to set up a space for you that we can secure properly. You said before I called Iemitsu here that we had a couple of weeks at least, right?"

"We should," Tsuna nodded. "It's the next set of orders that will be going out that are likely to bring the backlash. Grandfather and I both agreed that there's a great deal of risk involved in it."

"That gives us the time we need to establish a more secure place for you," Reborn told him. "Our best option is here. We can expand below the building, which would allow us to establish better security measures on the first floor. It also means reducing the amount of time you're vulnerable as you move between school, home and work by eliminating one location."

"Mom will be upset," Tsuna said sadly. "But the kids will help balance that, and I guess it means Futa can finally have his own room, which would be nice for him. Sharing with the other two has been hard on him."

"If you're willing to agree to the relocation, Tsuna," Iemitsu said, looking somewhat serene for once, "I'll stay in Japan for a couple of months to help Nana adjust to the change. We can install the security at the house under the guise of retrofitting it to better house the kids as they're getting older. Maybe give each of them a room while we're at it."

"You'd do that?" Tsuna glanced up at him almost hopefully. "I'd say yes to it just because you being around for so long at once would make Mom practically faint with happiness. I like the idea of the kids getting more space, maybe settling them into a more normal life. Being in school has helped somewhat, but I-pin's a girl, not a boy, and she should have some privacy as she gets older."

"That resolves one of the bigger problems then," Reborn said, marking something off a checklist. "Tsuna, you know that you can no longer go out alone. Not to the store, not to school. Someone is going to have to be with you at all times when you're outside of the security system." He paused for a moment, almost frowning slightly. "I'll be with you at night, of course, but we'll need to have company for you during the day as well."

"Hayato and Takeshi usually walk to school with me," Tsuna mused thoughtfully. "We could make that a permanent arrangement. Takeshi has to help his dad most afternoons and evenings when he doesn't have practice, though. Hayato would walk home with me no matter what. There's no way Hibari-san would allow us to schedule him into something like that and Ryohei has the same scheduling issues that Takeshi has with sports."

"I can cover the trip home, Sawada-dono," Basil offered, smiling at him warmly. "If my master stays here, I will stay as well."

Tsuna smiled back at him, appreciating the offer greatly but a bit uncomfortable about it. A good portion of his personal time happened after school, and with Basil accompanying him, even if just home, it was very likely he was going to be seeing some things Tsuna wasn't sure that he was ready for. "Um, Reborn, while I think Basil is strong and more than capable; there are some things I'm not sure he necessarily needs to be exposed to yet, if he doesn't know about them already."

"You mean the breadth and width of your ever-growing sex life, Tsuna?" Reborn asked him, sipping his coffee to hide his smirk as Iemitsu twitched at his words.

The alarm chimed as it was disarmed, and Tsuna could hear Hayato on the stairs as he watched his father's face go white, then red, then white, and then red again. The other teen came through the door into the main room just as Iemitsu gave up the fight to stay silent. He was rearming the alarm when Iemitsu finally broke.

"Sex life?! My son is too young and innocent to have a sex life yet!" Iemitsu declared, glaring at Reborn. "I mean, I know he's been dating those lovely girls, who wouldn't date them? But still, Reborn, to imply that my son is going around deflowering innocent girls!"

"He means me, you ignorant old man," Hayato said, setting the food and beverages on the table. "Well, me, Takeshi, Hibari, sometime Chrome," he paused and glanced at Tsuna. "Am I missing someone?"

"It's an ever-growing list, but you did forget Shouichi and Spanner," Tsuna replied, blushing so darkly that he was debating the merits of fainting. "Although I'd like to point out that I'm not having, by definition, sex yet."

"Good point, boss," Hayato said, grinning at him as he handed him some takeout to start on. "It's not really sex if there's no penetration, right? That's what they taught us in school, anyway."

Both of them chose to ignore Iemitsu, whose face had started changing colors again, and Basil as well, who looked like he was debating between fainting, running and plugging his ears to ignore the whole thing. Instead, they focused on food, distributing it around the room before diving into their own. With Iemitsu having emotional seizures, it wasn't like things were going to move forward anytime soon. It didn't help that Reborn was deliberately egging Iemitsu on by slipping in random inflammatory comments about the time Xanxus spent with Tsuna in Italy, Tsuna's napping with Mukuro, and more.

"Sawada-dono," Basil dropped to the floor to sit next to Hayato, choosing sides instinctively. "It wouldn't bother me to see some signs of affection between you and others. That's part of being a guard, sometimes." He tackled his food as though Nana hadn't just stuffed him full of good food a couple of hours ago. "My job would be to escort you from school to your home and stay nearby until you're settled in for the night. I can promise to be discrete, if a bit embarrassed."

Tsuna looked at him thoughtfully before nodding his agreement. Then he turned and gave Hayato a thorough explanation of why this meeting was taking place. It was a sign, he thought, of Hayato's continued growth and evolution that rather than exploding with outrage or any sort of upset, his Guardian went quiet for quite a while as Tsuna and Basil ate and discussed the merits and downsides of Tsuna moving below the office.

"Boss, I don't think there will be a lot you or I can really contribute here," Hayato said quietly, watching the adults thoughtfully. "As much as I hate to admit it, they have the experience and knowledge we don't. I do think it's going to upset you to sit here and listen to them discuss you like an object, though."

Glancing over at Reborn, Tsuna took note of the almost-hidden smile of approval and nodded to Hayato in agreement. "Basil, if you wouldn't mind, why don't we finish eating and then do a trial run back to the house for the night? Hayato can stay with me there while you return to help them."

"I can do that, Sawada-dono," Basil nodded, beaming with happiness at being asked.

"Good idea, Tsuna," Reborn said, subtly complimenting Hayato as well, which the other boy picked up on, making him flush slightly.

"I'm trying to follow your advice about listening to my Guardians, Reborn," Tsuna told him, finishing the last of his food. "You're the one who's always telling me that since I chose so well, I should make good use of them."

"It's good to see you listen to me sometimes," Reborn teased, his amusement obvious.

"Come on, you two," Tsuna said, ignoring the teasing and his still-sputtering father. "Let's go home." He paused, and then grinned slightly. "How about this, Basil? If I invite someone to stay and do homework with me, like I'm about to do with Hayato, you'll know to stay downstairs with Mom."

Hayato perked up at that, grinning at Tsuna, and Basil nodded his agreement. With a minimum of tidying up, they were out of the office and on the way home, leaving the others to plan Tsuna's safety for the future. Book bags over their shoulders, Tsuna and Hayato allowed Basil to escort them back to the house, where they turned him over to Nana again before climbing the stairs to Tsuna's room.

The minute the door closed behind them and Hayato pressed the lock button on the knob, he reached out and tugged Tsuna into his arms, squeezing him tightly. "Boss, I'm glad you invited me tonight. At the same time, I'm scared. I'd be so pissed off if something happened to you, now that things are going so well for all of us. I can't lose all of this."

"Hayato," Tsuna returned the embrace without a second thought, arms tight around his closest and dearest friend. "Please, try not to worry too much. This is all precautionary. There's every chance no attempt will be made, but I'd rather be safe than leave you all."

He had to stop talking then, because Hayato kissed him, mouth slanting over his own. It was unexpected, but Tsuna went with it, leaning into him and letting his arms move up to wind around Hayato's neck instead of his waist. It started as urgent, almost painful, but when Tsuna gasped against his lips it shifted into something softer, warmer and more familiar.

Without a second thought, he slowly started to move back towards his bed as they kissed. He was stressed, Hayato was stressed, and there was no way any homework was going to be done tonight. So instead, he fumbled with the buttons on Hayato's shirt, flicking them open one by one and then shoving the shirt off his shoulders, growling slightly when he ran into the t-shirt underneath. Breaking the kiss long enough to tug it up and over Hayato's head, he had to grin as he felt a tug at his own t-shirt.

By the time they fell back on the bed, Tsuna landing on his back, they were down to their jeans and those had been tugged open. Neither of them felt the need to talk much. Instead, they focused on kissing, touching and teasing. When Hayato tugged at the waist of Tsuna's jeans, he lifted his hips and allowed them to be pulled from his body along with his boxers, blushing slightly. They'd fooled around a lot, but being completely bare in front of him with all the lights on was a bit new to Tsuna and he felt vulnerable for a long moment.

His nervousness faded, however, when Hayato stood long enough to kick of his own as well before sprawling over him again, as bare as he was. Then his focus was entirely on the feel of flesh on flesh, the friction when their hips met, making him arch slightly off the bed and moan in surprise. That obviously pleased Hayato a great deal, because before Tsuna knew it, he'd slid down on the bed, and his hand was on Tsuna's cock a moment before something hot, wet and slick wrapped around it and Tsuna wailed softly, not expecting it and not sure how to handle the searing pleasure of it.

"Hayato!" He couldn't stop himself from bucking up off the bed and into Hayato's mouth, hands fisting the sheets as he fought for some sort of control. "Oh fuck!"

He knew, in theory, what was happening, but he'd never quite gotten this far before with anyone and it was melting his brain. It was clear that Hayato knew what he was doing, however, and Tsuna had a momentary flash of jealousy as he wondered what Takeshi and Hayato were getting up to when he wasn't around, before Hayato's head started to bob over his cock. Then all he could do was whimper, moan and beg for more.

Some part of him struggled, feeling like he was being selfish in letting Hayato do this while he did nothing in return, but when he moved a hand to touch him, Hayato looked up at him and there was something fierce and needy in his eyes, and then Tsuna understood. This wasn't about sex or passion as much as reassurance. This was Hayato clinging to him in one of the few ways he knew how, another variation on his cheerful morning greeting and rabid defense of Tsuna. So he surrendered to his closest friend, letting him have his way and giving him what he needed.

When he spilled himself into Hayato's mouth, his hand fisting in silver hair tightly, it was Hayato's name he cried out deliberately, doing everything he could to reassure him. As Hayato swallowed around him and then pushed himself up, flushing, Tsuna let his hand slide down to cup his cheek. Stroking over his lips with a thumb, Tsuna smiled at him, pouring his love and affection for Hayato into it.

"I think you broke my brain, Hayato," he teased, still slightly breathless. "That definitely goes on the list of firsts for me."

The glow that lit Hayato's face told him he'd gotten it right, and when he rolled his friend onto his back and wrapped a hand around his cock, the glow stayed. He kissed Hayato over and over again as he stroked him, barely aware of the soft words of reassurance he whispered against his lips. When Hayato tensed and spilled over Tsuna's hand, he caught the cries that fell from his lips with his mouth, absorbing them into their kiss.

Later, as they brushed their teeth together while standing at the sink in their boxers, Tsuna couldn't help but smile. The new restrictions he was going to face would suck, and there was no getting around that. They were worth it, however, if it meant that he could have nights like tonight, with his best friend sleeping over and helping him with his homework, and do so much to soothe the old pain inside him at the same time.

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*Title translates to "where love is, there is insight".


	26. Chapter XX: Unitas mirabile vinculum

**Chapter XX: Unitas mirabile vinculum (Sawada Household & Airport / Namimori / Current Day)**

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**A/N:** I broke this next chapter into two parts because this first part is mostly plot, and the second is mostly smut. With the original chapter hitting close to 6,000 words, I felt like it needed to be split. I prefer my chapter lengths between 1,800-4,000 words. On the upside, I'm posting both chapters today, so you get three chapters in one day! This chapter has hints of Tsuna/Mukuro and Mukuro/Tsuna. The next chapter is ALL Tsuna/Mukuro and Mukuro/Tsuna (depending on what they're doing at the time). Enjoy!

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Tsuna had planned to go to meet everyone at the airport with Hayato and Reborn, his assigned protection for the day, but as it often seemed to happen in his Family, word got out and by the time he was on his way, he'd been joined by quite a rowdy group of people. The most insistent on going, no matter what Tsuna thought, were Ken, Chikusa and Chrome.

He'd considered refusing them but he was also fairly sure they'd force their way along or follow behind and appear next to him at the airport anyway, so he gave in quickly. The migraine he'd get from arguing with them just wasn't worth it. With the addition of Ken and Chikusa, Takeshi had decided to tag along as well, saying that he hated missing out on a party, but Tsuna could see from the gleam in his eye that it was honestly more about keeping Tsuna safe, just in case. It worried him somewhat that both Hayato and Takeshi still saw Mukuro's followers as dangerous to Tsuna, although he could understand their concern. For his part, Tsuna knew without a doubt that none of the three would lay a hand on him without a direct order from Mukuro, and Chrome might actually rebel against the order.

There was something in Tsuna that twitched these days over these assumptions that he was still as weak as he had been when he was thirteen. He'd worked so hard, and trained so much. He'd shed blood and tears to become strong enough to protect his Family. Reborn had whacked him firmly on the back of the head, however, and explained to him that it was the Family's job to protect him and his job to look after the Family and Tsuna had no right to refuse them. Tsuna had given in to them silently after that.

Lambo had demanded to come along, wanting to see his 'Shou-chan' and Spanner again. It was painfully hard for Tsuna to refuse Lambo almost anything, after watching him almost die during the Ring Battles and then watching him suffer in the future. The fact that giving in to the boy earned him a series of tight hugs and an actual snuggle lasting more than a few seconds was more than worth it, in the end. When the boy crawled in to Tsuna's bed and curled up with him the night before, snuggled tightly against him Tsuna knew he was lost. The boy knew exactly how to manipulate him. Of course, not being stupid, he'd brought I-pin along to manage her best friend properly.

Herding them all along, he got them all settled in the waiting area outside the customs inspection point and ordered them all firmly to avoid fighting, yelling, biting, kicking, snarling and anything else that might get them kicked out of the airport. That done, he retreated to a glass window of a wall and leaned back against it and watched the exit intently, eagerly waiting for the arrivals to appear. He owed the three of them an enormous debt for what they'd done, and he needed to catch Xanxus before the others noticed him and had small seizures.

Shouichi was the first through the doors, fumbling with his laptop bag and suitcase. He almost lost both to the flying tackle full of Lambo that came at him, but Hayato was there to catch them for him. Shouichi vanished under a swarm of Lambo and I-pin, both kids babbling at him and snuggling against him happily. Tsuna grinned at him and waved cheerfully from his wall, not about to dive into that snarl of arms and legs. Instead he pulled out his cell phone and snapped a couple of pictures of the pile for his mom.

When Spanner came through the doors next, the kids were distracted and Tsuna was able to approach Shouichi and hug him. They stood together like that for a long moment, each boy's forehead resting on the other's shoulder. Tsuna could tell his friend was exhausted.

"Thank you, Shouichi," Tsuna whispered, arms tightening slightly, "for everything."

"Thank you, boss," Shouichi replied, echoing his gesture, "for being willing to give the orders. That's what we're doing, after all." He paused, glancing around quickly. "Mukuro-san said he'd keep Xanxus-san from being noticed during the arrival. If you find a nice piece of wall to claim for a few minutes, he'll join you."

Tsuna released Shouichi and nodded his understanding before he turned and hugged Spanner as well, being sure to thank him as well. He looked up again just in time to watch Mukuro walk through the door and be surrounded by Ken, Chikusa and Chrome in an instant. They were all clinging to him tightly and talking at the same time, babbling about how they'd missed him, how they'd prepared their home to welcome him back, about how annoying various Vongola members were and more.

He saw the twitchiness start in Hayato's shoulders, an instinctive reaction to someone that rubbed him the wrong way, and shot him a hard look, absolutely forbidding any outbursts or rudeness. Takeshi intercepted the look as well and tossed an arm around Hayato's shoulders, leaning down to whisper in his ear. From the color spreading across Hayato's cheeks, he figured it must have been something fairly naughty and smiled.

Remembering what Shouichi had told him, he moved back to his spot on the wall, knowing it would be a while before he could get close enough to greet Mukuro. Within moments, the chill that drifted down his spine warned him he wasn't alone. He could almost feel Xanxus lean against the wall next to him.

"What the hell kind of mess are you getting yourself into, brat?" Xanxus asked, not the least bothered by the fact that he was, for all purposes, invisible to everyone else. "The old man is worried and was actually babbling about ordering me to stay here until I told him you'd probably actually be safer if I was in another country and not close enough for you to annoy me."

"Well honestly, Xanxus, it's really all your fault," Tsuna told him, grinning cheerfully. "Or it will be, when you're done with the list I've got for you. We're going to light a fire under a hidden enemy and see if we can get them to stick their head up so we can remove it. It might take a while, but I'm determined." Tsuna could hear the thread of danger in his own voice, something new and darker that he still wasn't used to. "I'll kill every follower they have if it brings their leader out of hiding."

"These better not be boring jobs," Xanxus told him, the air around him menacing and almost scalding hot, but tinged with a vague hint of approval for Tsuna's ruthlessness. "That's what you have those little bitches of yours for."

"They aren't ready yet to start killing," Tsuna replied, watching them with affectionate eyes. "So I'm going to have to rely on you for a while longer. They'll get there, though, and when they do, our Family will be unstoppable, Xanxus."

"As long as you understand what your Guardians', and your, purpose is in all of this," Xanxus stated firmly. "I'll track you down when there aren't so many people around."

"Tomorrow afternoon I'll be out in the canyon Reborn uses to train us. I'm going to put Mukuro through a workout," Tsuna informed him quietly. "I need to see how strong he's gotten now that he's got his own body back."

"I'll find you there, then," Xanxus said, before moving away silently.

"Are you done playing with Xanxus?" Reborn asked, his voice appearing out of nowhere before he landed on Tsuna's shoulder, making him jump and actually yelp quietly.

"Fuck, Reborn! You're going to give me a heart attack, sneaking up on me like that!" Tsuna scolded him, turning his head slightly to glare at him before relenting and calming down again. "But yes, I am. I should have realized you would notice him either way."

"Of course," Reborn said, slightly smugly. "I'm smart enough to sense a predator nearby. I worry about you, however, if I can still sneak up on you like that."

"That's because while I know you're a predator, Reborn," Tsuna tapped the brim of Reborn's hat gently, "I also know you're a loyal predator. You might kick my ass but you're not going to kill me."

"Cheeky brat," Reborn huffed, before whapping Tsuna on the side of the head lightly. "You have other things you should be paying attention to." He gestured slightly towards Mukuro and his followers.

Turning to Mukuro, Tsuna's eyes narrowed in an almost hyper-focused state as he observed things that concerned him. He felt Reborn shift on his shoulder and he turned his head slightly to glance at his tutor, only to see the same concerned look. Their eyes met in a silent conversation, before Tsuna nodded obediently. They'd both caught on to the sight, barely noticeable, of Mukuro's discomfort and edginess in the crowd. He would evade slightly when his friends tried to touch him and his eyes were somewhat foggy and unfocused.

"I'll break it up and take care of him. Can you handle the others? I think we'll probably miss the dinner everyone's planned at Takeshi's place. If you can get Ken, Chikusa and Chrome over there, that would be a big help." Tsuna was worried now, and focused completely on finding out what the problem was and resolving it.

"I'll take care of it. Mukuro should be enough protection for you on the way home, given the time of day. If nothing else, he can hide the both of you until help arrives." Reborn nodded his agreement and set off to whip the others into shape.

As he did, Tsuna slipped up behind Mukuro and slid an arm through his elbow, turning him around to face him. While the others protested the action, Tsuna bluntly ignored them and smiled instead at his Guardian. The slight relaxation in Mukuro's posture as he saw Tsuna in front of him reassured him that this was more about adaptation to his own body than anything more troublesome.

"Welcome home, Mukuro," Tsuna said and pulled him into a hug as well. He held on to the other teen while Reborn caused mayhem and havoc and dragged all of the others out of the airport and away from them. "I'm sorry to take you away from your Family so early on, but I'd like to spend some time with you without the others around." Mukuro wasn't verbalizing any sort of response, but he leaned into Tsuna almost subconsciously.

Even though he knew the others would miss his presence at the welcome home dinner for Shouichi and Spanner, Tsuna made what he felt was the right decision and instead stole Mukuro away, promising to himself that he would catch up with the others the next day at school. Mukuro's silence and twitchiness concerned him and he felt the need to address it before allowing Mukuro to return to the home Chrome and the others had established for themselves in the rundown and abandoned family center in Kokuyo.

So instead, Tsuna took Mukuro home with him, to the most comforting place he knew. It was quiet at home, with everyone being out at the party, which gave them the privacy he felt Mukuro needed. He got the other teen there and in the door and out of his shoes before Mukuro finally seemed to wake up and come back to himself.

"It's odd," he said, leaning against the wall in the hallway leading to the stairs, "seeing all of them in person like that again. It's unnerving to see them, hear them, and then to turn and see Chrome standing there with them."

"I hadn't thought about that," Tsuna admitted, taking up space on the opposite wall. "I'm sorry, Mukuro. I should have kept them back until you had time to adjust to being in Namimori again and settle in at your own pace. They just wanted to see you so badly. I couldn't keep it from them."

"Strangely enough, I somewhat understand," Mukuro shook himself, almost like a wet dog, and seemed surprised when water actually flew around them.

"You missed the whole part where it was raining outside, didn't you?" Tsuna smiled at him and reached out to push the damp bangs out of Mukuro's face, a move eerily reminiscent of the gesture he'd made after freeing the other boy. "Let's get you dry and warm. It's not normally this cold this early in the fall."

Mukuro stared at his face and then the hand touching him and then back at Tsuna's face again. He blinked slowly and then moved, leaning across the hallway to pin him to the wall, his arms braced on either side of Tsuna's head. "Why do you feel like the only normal thing I've seen all day?"

Tsuna didn't flinch, didn't even look scared, a vast change from when they were younger. Instead, he leaned forward, his lips brushing Mukuro's cheek as he answered him. "Because I'm the only person you care about who will never allow you to control me completely?"

"That must be it," Mukuro whispered it before turning his head and catching Tsuna's mouth with his own.

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*Title translates to "the wonderful bond of unity".


	27. Chapter XXI: Bis repetita placent

**Chapter XXI: Bis repetita placent (Sawada Household / Namimori / Current Day)**

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**A/N:** This chapter contains smut, specifically Tsuna/Mukuro and Mukuro/Tsuna. As a quick timeline note that I left out in the previous chapter, this happens just a few days after the meeting about Tsuna's security, so he hasn't relocated yet. Enjoy!

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It started, surprisingly enough, as a soft kiss, full of curiosity and a hint of loneliness and confusion. Tsuna's soft murmur of approval that ghosted over Mukuro's lips changed things, because suddenly Mukuro's tongue was sliding over Tsuna's bottom lip, tasting him. Tsuna opened for him, his own tongue slipping out to meet Mukuro's, stroking and inviting all at once.

Both of them moaned then, and Mukuro's arms dropped from the wall to wrap around Tsuna, pulling him tightly against his own body. Tsuna, not the least slow on the uptake, snagged two handfuls of Mukuro's coat and tugged him towards the stairs. With what he was sure was going to happen, he definitely didn't want to do it anywhere his mother might walk in and see them. Not that he was ashamed in any way, but there was only so much of his personal life he really wanted the women in his life to know. The fact that he was about to add Mukuro to his list of partners wasn't one of them, because it would be an invasion of the privacy Mukuro had barely been allowed to have over the past few years.

Stumbling into his room as they kissed, Tsuna fell back onto his bed with Mukuro on top of him, not even breaking his fall as one of his hands was busy freeing Mukuro's hair from its tie while the other was shoving the coat off of his shoulders roughly. He'd expected this to happen eventually, but he'd underestimated the sheer need to be centered that Mukuro carried inside of him. If Mukuro needed something to obsess over and focus on, then Tsuna would give it to him. That thought had him deepening their kiss, his tongue sliding slickly into Mukuro's mouth to tease at him.

The moan that slipped from the older teen made Tsuna's cock throb almost painfully as his blood rushed south. Tsuna rewarded him by tugging Mukuro's shirt open, heedless of the buttons flying off as he did, and shoving it off his shoulders as well. There would be other times to go slower, to explore and familiarize himself with the other's body, but this was about showing Mukuro that he belonged to Tsuna for more reasons than just his power; to mark him properly.

Clearly Mukuro agreed, because Tsuna's shirt met a similar fate and both were very quickly down to just their pants, Mukuro's hair falling over his shoulders to tickle along Tsuna's chest lightly. Tsuna chuckled against Mukuro's lips before licking his way into his mouth again, practically taunting him with his aggressiveness. Mukuro's need for Tsuna was part of what was making Mukuro so unbalanced and nervous, so Tsuna prodded him with his dominance, daring him to take control and take what he needed and wanted. It wasn't like Mukuro to be timid, especially with Tsuna being so willing.

It took a few moments and then he could feel Mukuro snap, and suddenly it was Tsuna's mouth that was practically being fucked as it was claimed. Tsuna purred and put his fingers to use on the button and zipper of Mukuro's pants, fumbling the button open and the zipper down while spreading his own thighs invitingly. His hand slid into Mukuro's pants long enough to wrap his clever fingers around his cock and stroke it lightly, familiarizing himself with the feel and heft of him. He lost his grip, however, when Mukuro growled, breaking the kiss between them long enough to force Tsuna's jeans open and down his hips, shoving them off onto the floor along with his boxers.

"How-" Mukuro panted, one hand running down Tsuna's chest and over his stomach, "how is it that you can do this to me with so little effort? It's like I'm going mad. I can't even control what I'm thinking."

"Because I'm yours," Tsuna replied, returning the favor by shoving the rest of Mukuro's clothing off of him, "just as much as you're mine. There's nothing wrong with wanting to claim what belongs to you and mark it. Take everything you need from me, Mukuro."

He couldn't explain how he knew that coming of age trapped in that tank kept Mukuro from experiencing all of the things the rest of them had as they'd grown. While Mukuro had wandered and learned and kept himself from truly being alone, his body had aged while he was away and no amount of second-hand experience compensated for the sweet fumbling of a first kiss, the rush of an erection or the white-hot bliss of an orgasm. Now tied to his body again, all of those needs were surging up in him and he was truly feeling them for the first time. In so many ways, Tsuna was pleased that he was the first person Mukuro turned to, to express these needs. It was an unconscious sign of the trust, the bond that was growing between the two of them.

"I want you," Tsuna whispered, leaning up to bite along Mukuro's jaw teasingly. "I want you to touch me, to mark me, to make me moan and beg. I want to touch you, taste you, tie you to me in every way that I can so that you'll stay with me forever. Is that so bad?"

"There's a word for creatures like you, Tsunayoshi," Mukuro told him, purring at the attention and sliding a hand down between them, wrapping it around Tsuna's cock with wicked fingers that had Tsuna arching off the bed, hips thrusting up into his touch. "You're an incubus."

Tsuna laughed and then fisted a hand in Mukuro's hair, one leg lifting to wrap around his hip. Maybe Mukuro was right, in a way. He gained quite a bit with moments like this, after all. Still, all he could focus on now was the hot hand on his cock and the larger body stretched over him.

"Ah, fuck, Mukuro," Tsuna swore softly, arching again, "that feels so good. Give me more."

"So demanding," Mukuro teased, but didn't hesitate for long, pausing only to lean forward and adjust slightly, now wrapping his hand around both of them. He hissed at the feeling of Tsuna's cock against his own before stroking them both with long, tight movements.

His reward came as Tsuna whimpered and kissed him again, diving into Mukuro's mouth with the same slow strokes of his tongue, matching Mukuro's pace instinctively. His hand in Mukuro's hair held him tightly in place for the kiss and his other hand slid down, cupping the other teen's ass. Both lean bodies strained against each other as Mukuro pleasured them, taking his time at first to fully enjoy the experience.

It wasn't long, however, before they descended into a panting, writhing movement full of desperation and need. Tsuna was begging and pleading against Mukuro's mouth, interspersed with irresistible moans of pleasure that slipped from him with almost every breath he took. Mukuro was growling deep in his chest and he was sweating now, drops slowly running down the side of his face to drip off of his chin and onto Tsuna's neck.

Tsuna was the first to break when a slight twist of Mukuro's wrist hit the head of his cock just right and it all became too much for him. He yowled in pleasure as he came, body tensing whip-tight before starting to shake as he spilled himself over Mukuro's hand in hot jets. The slippery-slick feeling Mukuro's wet hand caused on his own cock brought him to the edge as well seconds later and he cried out, back arching as he spilled himself over Tsuna's stomach.

Panting filled the room as Mukuro slumped forward and Tsuna carefully helped him to the side to lie on the bed before turning to face him, grinning. Leaning forward, he kissed the other teen slowly, taking his time to really taste and experience it, now that the urgency had faded. It was just as good as the previous ones, but warmer and less explosive, speaking more of intimacy and the future. He liked how Mukuro seemed to almost melt into it, his hard exterior set aside for the moment.

"Stay here tonight," Tsuna asked him lazily, nipping at his bottom lip. "It's raining outside. I'd hate to see you catch a cold because of me." He licked over the same lip affectionately.

"You're very convincing, Tsunayoshi," Mukuro told him as his eyes focused on him intently. "It makes it very hard to contemplate walking away."

"I've learned the hard way that hiding my affection for the people I love only hurts them in the end," Tsuna replied, sitting up long enough to reach for a few tissues to clean them both up. "In the process of breaking that habit, I found out that I really, really like touching the people I love, too. It doesn't hurt that it feels so damned good."

"We can agree on that," Mukuro nodded and sprawled onto his back, not the least bothered by their nudity now. "It's significantly different experiencing it physically, rather than in someone else's body."

"Which is why I'm happy that I waited for your freedom before doing this," Tsuna told him honestly before settling in against him, stopping only to reach for a light blanket to pull over them. It really was getting chilly. "You deserve more than just a fantasy." He didn't hesitate in wrapping an arm around Mukuro snugly, fingers running along his back slowly.

"I suppose I'll have to learn from you, in this one instance," Mukuro teased lightly, but his arms wound around Tsuna almost instinctively. He wasn't quite clinging, but the need for human contact was clear. Tsuna helped him by moving closer and sliding a leg over Mukuro's and moving his head to nuzzle against the side of his neck.

"I'm glad," Tsuna said, pausing to lick a slow trail up to his jaw, "because you smell really good right now, and you taste even better. There's a lot more we could show each other before we have to sleep tonight."

"Won't your pet Arcobaleno mind, Tsunayoshi?" Mukuro's hand moved up to run through Tsuna's hair in slow, drifting movements. "Doesn't he sleep in here with you?"

"I think of anyone, Mukuro, Reborn would mind your being here the least right now. Of all of us, he would understand what you've been through the most, given his own curse. The pain, the isolation, the sheer dark knowledge that you both have experienced and have to carry with you every day should be a good foundation for you two to build on." Tsuna sighed softly, his arm tightening slightly. "I think he'd understand why this is important to both of us."

Mukuro didn't answer him directly, but another slight tightening of his own arms told Tsuna that he'd gotten his point across. Of course the other thing the two had in common was an obscene inability to ever ask anyone for any kind of help unless there was no other option. Slightly frustrated by the thought, Tsuna bit Mukuro's neck sharply, sucking his chosen spot hard enough to leave a mark.

Mukuro groaned, the hand in Tsuna's hair tightening. "Marking me already, Tsunayoshi? How very territorial of you."

"I always mark what's mine," was the reply, before Tsuna's mouth started moving south, trailing over sharp collarbones, marking bites over pale skin. "Because no matter who you choose to spend time with, I will always have to come first." It was the unwritten but sacred code of their Family, and now that Tsuna had learned it and more importantly learned to respect it, he wouldn't insult one of his Guardians by not expecting it.

His Mist Guardian didn't seem to mind, however, and instead tossed back the blanket to free up more space for Tsuna to mark. He could almost hear the older teen purring in pleasure at the attention and so Tsuna lavished it on him, licking, biting, kissing and slowly working his way down that body that was still too thin. He made a note to enforce a new rule about Mukuro and his Family and eating properly. They were all too thin.

The shifting of Mukuro's hips refocused Tsuna's attention and he paused to leave a bite mark just below his belly button before exploring it with his tongue teasingly. There was something about the taste and texture of Mukuro's skin that aroused him in wicked ways, making him want more. Maybe it was that this was Mukuro's first real experience in his own body, and Tsuna wanted to be the first to show him as much as he could, thus marking his territory further, or perhaps it was just affection for someone he'd left to suffer for far too long. Either way, he made a decision as he slid lower, to give Mukuro one of his "firsts".

"I haven't done this for anyone else yet, so if I'm bad at it, you'll just have to yell at me until I get it right," he told him, glancing up Mukuro's body cheekily. "You'll have bragging rights if the others get snotty with you."

"What are you going to do, Tsunayo-" Mukuro couldn't finish his sentence as he was too busy crying out when Tsuna took his half-hard cock into his mouth, tongue sliding along his length curiously. His mind stuttered to a halt as he stared down at Tsuna going down on him.

For his part, Tsuna had been nervous to try this but his focus honed in almost as if it were a form of his hyper intuition when Mukuro yowled in approval. He shifted his own body, practically reversing himself on the bed as he found that Mukuro's hard cock fit better in the shape of his mouth if they were facing opposite directions. He could feel the head sliding over the back of his tongue and every twitch of pleasure throbbed in his mouth, guiding him in his efforts.

His hands moved on their own, wrapping around Mukuro's narrow hips and cupping them, squeezing every time his mouth slid down. He was sure with Mukuro's fair skin he'd leave marks in the end, but he couldn't slow down enough to care. All that mattered was the taste and feel of having him in his mouth. That was until he felt hot, wet pleasure wrap around his own cock and moaned around Mukuro's.

It took Tsuna a few slick shifts of his head to realize that Mukuro was returning the gesture as enthusiastically as Tsuna was performing it. His brain melted at the feeling of giving and receiving this sort of pleasure at the same time. Before long, both of them were lost in the combination of taste, texture and the hot, wet suction, moaning and shifting against each other eagerly.

It was Mukuro this time that couldn't hold out, and with a drawn out moan his body tensed, thighs shaking as he peaked, spilling himself into Tsuna's mouth. Tsuna didn't hesitate for a moment, swallowing around him before letting him slip from his mouth. Then it was Tsuna's turn to approach the brink, and he cried out Mukuro's name over and over again into his thigh as he came, trembling against him. The feeling of Mukuro swallowing made him moan again. Finally they both slumped against each other, panting and shaking.

"A first for both of us," Mukuro murmured against Tsuna's hip before kissing it lazily, his tongue sliding over hot skin. "Another good reason to stay at your side, Tsunayoshi."

"That was," Tsuna nuzzles slowly against Mukuro's cock before sitting up and stretching, grinning, "absolutely fucking amazing. We can do that again anytime you want, Mukuro. Hell, you could probably get me to beg you for that, and I wouldn't mind at all."

Turning himself properly on the bed, he settled down again, pressing himself snugly against Mukuro, sliding an arm around his waist. Leaning up a bit, he kissed him again, not the least bit bothered by the taste of himself on Mukuro's tongue. Instead, he sucked at his tongue, teasing and torturing him slowly, loving the mix of the tastes of both of them together. He also liked the lazy moan that slipped from Mukuro as they finally parted, lips lingering against each others' for a few breaths afterwards.

"I think you truly are an incubus, Tsunayoshi," Mukuro teased, settling back into the pillows. "No wonder you're so loved. You throw everything you have into pleasing a person."

"I don't know that it's so selfless," he replied, lounging next to him. "I enjoyed that, every part of it. Each of you has different things that just pull at me in different ways. For example, there's something about the taste and texture of you that drives me crazy," he admitted, blushing lightly. "I can't see that changing anytime soon."

"It's better for all of us if it's different for each of us," Mukuro mused. "Similarity would breed conflict. I imagine each of us comes to you for different things, as well. My needs are not the same as the others, I know. I can guess at some of the others. Hayato-kun, for example, needs to belong and be loved. He needs that calm reassurance of a steady love that won't change, no matter how he acts out. His loyalty to you stems from your absolute acceptance of him."

"Yes, and now that he's had it for so long, he's more comfortable looking to others for it as well." Tsuna chuckled at the thought.

Mukuro grumbled slightly at the thought. "What do you gain from all of this, Tsunayoshi? Loyalty is an obvious answer, but you're not the type to tie people to you like that."

"When you all started coming into my life, I was such a stupid, selfish boy," Tsuna told him, frowning slightly at the memory. "I couldn't bring myself to protect anyone, or see past my own fear. Each of you has taught me so much about the world, about life, and about myself. Each experience with you now teaches me what my next steps should be, to keep you all well, and with me, the way that I need to have you."

"I'm not sure I completely understood that," Mukuro admitted, rolling the idea around in his head.

"I'll give you an example. From our night here together, I know that you and your small Family will, without question, start eating meals with me a few times a week, so I know that you're getting real meals, and not the crap they try to feed Chrome. You're all too thin. I've learned that if I give to you with no expectations, you give back equally, if not more." Tsuna started playing with a lock of Mukuro's hair. "To be honest, I wouldn't have expected you to be such a generous partner. I would have expected you'd be more like Hibari, for example, taking what you need but maintaining your distance afterwards."

Mukuro sniffed at the thought. "Haven't I told you that you have an unnatural power, Tsunayoshi? Even I can't stay away from you. Even that one, I think you'd find, spends more time near you than you realize. He's simply very good at not being obvious about it."

"Do you think so?" Tsuna blinked at him, surprised.

"He's walked by at least once since I arrived here, so I would say yes." Mukuro glanced out the window and then nodded. "If you look in the tree over there, you'll see something familiar."

Tsuna glanced out the window and then blinked again, shocked. There, nestled in amongst the branches of the tree, hiding from the rain, was Hibird. The poor bird was wet and looked miserable, but was determinedly maintaining his post. Shaking his head in both amusement and disapproval, Tsuna kissed Mukuro's cheek and slid out of the bed, wrapping the blanket around his waist, and made his way over to the window, opening it and leaning out.

"Come here, you ridiculous little bird," Tsuna called, holding his hand out to Hibird. "There's no point in staying out in the rain and cold. You can watch me just as well inside where it's warm."

The little bird fluttered his way over to the window and landed in Tsuna's palm, chirping. Tsuna rubbed his feathery head and closed the window. Snagging his t-shirt from the floor he settled it over the back of his desk chair and moved the bird to perch there. Rummaging through the mess that was his room, he found some crackers to crumble up for the little bird and poured a shallow cup of water for him.

"There you go, Hibird. Dry off and have something to eat. You can sleep in here tonight." Tsuna gave him another affectionate rub. "I don't know what he was thinking, sending you out in this weather."

"Rokudo Mukuro is a rabid bastard," Hibird chirped at him, head tilted cutely. "Watch Tsunayoshi. Watch Tsunayoshi."

Mukuro laughed at that, his head falling back as he practically roared with laughter. "It's good to know some things never change."

Tsuna shook his head in amusement and took a moment to text Hibari that he'd kidnapped Hibird and would be returning him in the morning when the weather had hopefully improved. Turning back to the bed, he slid back into it, tossing the blanket back over the both of them. This time he gave Mukuro his back and tugged the other teen's arm around his waist, wanting the warmth of the other boy wrapped around him.

"Tell me, Tsunayoshi," Mukuro nuzzled against the back of Tsuna's neck, "what are these strange sensations inside of me? What is this strange warmth and calmness?"

"I hope they're belonging, happiness, maybe even love." Tsuna wriggled back against him reassuringly. "You have people who love you and believe in you, and not just the ones you've saved from your first Family, or from death. You have me, now, and I'll always be here for you when you need me."

"That's a big promise you're making," Mukuro whispered against his skin.

"It's one I'd die to keep," Tsuna replied, reaching up to turn off the lamp. "I've already proven that once, haven't I?" He curled back up in Mukuro's arms. "You saw it as clearly as I did."

"A time like that will never happen again, because it will not be allowed to happen." That was all there was to it, in Mukuro's mind, and the way Tsuna snuggled against him told him it had been the right thing to say. He kissed the back of Tsuna's neck again and relaxed. Within the space of a few minutes they'd both drifted off to sleep.

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*Title translates to "the things that please are those that are asked for again and again".


	28. Chapter XXII: Absit iniuria verbis

**Chapter XXII: Absit iniuria verbis (Sawada Household / Namimori / Current Day)**

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**A/N: **This was a painfully hard chapter to write. You'll see why as you get further into it. I'm a person who never enjoys conflict between people I care about, and this time I had to write it between characters I love. It hurt me, hurt my beta readers and we were all ready to beat a certain character about the head and shoulders. In the end, however, it's necessary for future happiness. So please bear with it!

Also, I'd like to thank Ai-chan (my inspiration) and thi_hoai (my beta reader). I adore you both.

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Mukuro was gone when Tsuna woke the following morning, although Tsuna could still smell him in the sheets and along his own skin. He was sad and slightly disappointed to wake up alone again, much the same way he had when Hayato had spent the night recently. Maybe his friends simply weren't the lingering type? Or maybe Tsuna's habit of oversleeping was the problem? However, Tsuna had a far more likely suspect in the end, one that was infinitely more visible and obvious.

He could be called obvious because when Tsuna mustered the energy to turn his head slightly to look behind him, where he would have expected to find Mukuro, Reborn was snoozing comfortably on Tsuna's pillow. That was enough to tell him that Mukuro's absence was more than likely Reborn's fault, because the claiming of Tsuna's pillow where Mukuro had slept was an obviously territorial maneuver. Glancing around, he noticed that Hibird was gone as well, with even the supplies he'd set out for the small bird already cleaned up to leave no trace at all of his presence in the room.

Sighing, he rolled to his side and faced Reborn, smiling ruefully. There were no signs of violence in the room, so whatever had prompted both Mukuro and Hibird to leave had at least been somewhat peaceful, although probably not terribly polite. Still, it was a new addition to his list of things to worry about, as Hayato had also been driven out of Tsuna's bed before Tsuna had awoken the day before, and much like today, Reborn had been hogging most of Tsuna's pillow by the time Tsuna had opened his eyes.

"Isn't throwing people out of my bed so you can sleep there doing things just a little bit out of order, Reborn?" Tsuna asked softly, not expecting an answer from his sleeping tutor. "Most guys your age try flirting first, maybe a date, before chasing off other suitors. You're going to start all sorts of rumors."

"You give them too much freedom with your life," Reborn replied, blinking awake and avoiding the true question completely in favor of teaching Tsuna a lesson he obviously felt his student needed. "You're already about to sacrifice an enormous amount of personal freedom and privacy to protect your life. If they all think they can barge in and claim you whenever they like, take over your private space and paw you like dogs in heat, you'll never have any peace."

"I didn't have sex with him, Reborn," Tsuna told him, sticking with what he believed to be the heart of the problem here. "I didn't have sex with Hayato either. I'm not in the least bit prepared to go that far with either of them. Hell, I just learned the joys of a good blowjob this week. It's not like any of us are gearing up to settle down and raise babies. Do you have any idea how many teenage boys sit together in dark rooms and jerk off to porn together? We're not crazy sex freaks, here. We're just teenagers trying out things that feel good with the only people we can trust."

"That's none of my business, or my concern," Reborn said, clearly grumpy as he got up for the day and dressed. "I don't care what you're doing when you're naked with other people. It's not my problem."

"Isn't it?" Tsuna asked, relentlessly. "I think it is. I think it should be. Especially if it's making you this upset. It bothers me, Reborn, to see you hurt, and it hurts me to see you angry with me."

With that, he stood, refusing to blush over his nudity as he reached for a clean school uniform. It was clear that something was bothering Reborn, but his chances of forcing it out of him were about nil unless he was willing to talk. All Tsuna could do was be honest himself and hope Reborn sorted it out for himself. He would not, however, lash out at Reborn and make all of this more complicated.

"Mukuro will meet you this afternoon for training at the school gates," Reborn relented enough to tell him as he tightened his tie. "I'll be going with you for protection. That should do, since we're meeting Mukuro and you're expecting Xanxus as well." Well, that told Tsuna how much Reborn had overheard of their conversation.

"Thank you, Reborn," Tsuna replied, smiling warmly at him as he pulled out a t-shirt and jeans and tossed them in his book bag for later. No point in damaging a school uniform while training if he didn't have to. "I'd like your opinion on where you think he is, skill-wise, now that he's got his own body to work with. Kyoya was willing to work with him, if he simply needs to put some time in."

"It'll be interesting to see," Reborn conceded, hopping up onto Tsuna's shoulder for a ride downstairs. "We'll find out how much he's grown since we last saw him in person in a real fight. Although if all he's doing is giving in to hormonal urges, I suppose I won't be very impressed at all."

Tsuna paused at the top of the stairs thoughtfully. "You know, Reborn, it's okay if you have a problem with something. You can always talk to me. I'll listen, even if you're pissed at me about something."

Reborn huffed and twisted Tsuna's ear painfully. "I don't know what you're talking about, Tsuna. If you have time to babble nonsense like that, then I need to train you more."

"Ow! Ow!" Tsuna yelped and squirmed. "There's no need to get violent, Reborn! I was just offering!"

Without replying to Tsuna, Reborn hopped down from his shoulder and down the stairs. By the time Tsuna finished rubbing his ear to alleviate the pain and had made his way downstairs, his breakfast was long gone, and when he asked about it, all the accusing fingers pointed straight at Reborn. All Tsuna could do was sigh and rummage in the fridge for leftovers from the party he'd missed. They were few and far between, but there was enough to hold him over until he could stop at a convenience store on the way to school.

As he was munching, he heard Takeshi and Hayato at the gate, calling for him. Glancing at the clock he realized it was early enough that he could at least do something nice for his Mom to make up for missing the party last night. "Mom, we'll take the kids to school for you today so you can get some rest."

Nana nodded gratefully at him and helped him wrangle the three into the rest of their school clothing and out the door. It was one thing Tsuna had to admit was easier to do when Bianchi was around. She had an almost motherly affection for the kids that she hid as well as she could, but Tsuna saw how she straightened their clothes every morning and made sure that no matter how food was fought over, that each of them got enough.

Walking the kids to school with Takeshi and Hayato cheered Tsuna up a great deal, and when Kyoko and Haru joined them later for the walk to their school, he found himself smiling and laughing with them easily enough. While Reborn's mood was distressing, until he was ready to talk there wasn't much Tsuna could do to help him. As he made his way through the school day, his mind kept wandering back to the issue, concerned, but he had no luck coming up with a way to get his tutor to talk.

By the time he left school and met Reborn and Mukuro at the gates of the school, Tsuna had worn his brains out trying to sort the problem out and it was almost a relief to follow them out to the canyon and cut loose. He and Mukuro brawled, going all out across the length and width of the canyon for the next couple of hours while Reborn watched them silently. Tsuna was pleased to notice that their closeness the night before hadn't influenced Mukuro into holding back with him today, and it turned out to be a good training session for both of them, leaving them drenched and exhausted by the end of it.

Mukuro was lounging with Tsuna after their training when Xanxus arrived to meet with him. They'd done their time in training with Reborn and now they were training hard by napping in the sunshine while Reborn napped on a boulder nearby. The imminent sense of violence that always surrounded Xanxus had them both awake by the time he reached them, but the late afternoon sun kept them prone on the grass. Tsuna's head was comfortably lounging on Mukuro's stomach as the basked in the lingering warmth.

Blinking up at the tall and slightly terrifying man, Tsuna smiled sleepily at him and patted the ground next to him. The blank stare Xanxus gave him was nerve-wracking, but then the older man flopped down to sprawl next to them, tucking his arms behind his head. Tsuna was shocked he'd actually taken up the invitation, but pleased at the same time. Then again, big cats liked to nap in the sun, didn't they?

"You have information for me, brat?" Xanxus yawned again and held out a hand demandingly.

Tsuna nodded and reached into his book bag, pulling out the dossier to hand over to him. "All the instructions you need are in there, including the order in which to take them. There's no need to be quiet about this. Like I said yesterday, we want to ferret out the enemy. The best way to do that is to be noisy about taking out their support."

"We can certainly do noisy well," Xanxus chuckled darkly and started reading through the dossier.

Stretching and pulling himself upright, Tsuna let him read and smiled at Mukuro. "Thanks for the sparring session. I needed a good workout."

"And you needed to see where I was," Mukuro said, stretching as well. "I'm not as foolish as those boys who follow you everywhere, Tsunayoshi. I know a test when I see one."

"At least you're clever enough to recognize that," Reborn commented harshly, obviously awake again. "I was beginning to think all that time stuck in a fish tank had softened that brain of yours."

"Reborn! That's uncalled for," Tsuna said, turning to give him an affronted look.

"Tsunayoshi, I've already had to go one round with your overprotective little tutor today," Mukuro said, sighing as he stood. "I'm not sure I can behave myself fully if I have to go another. I think I'll return home." Leaning in, he dropped a kiss on Tsuna's mouth, making him blush. Then he whispered against his lips. "Come see me soon, Tsunayoshi."

Tsuna was still blushing when Mukuro faded off in the distance. It took a solid whack to the back of the head from Xanxus to shake him out of it. "For fuck's sake, shrimp. Do us all a favor and don't go falling in love with someone that fucking crazy. When I told you to pick someone no one else would argue over for your first fuck, I didn't mean go for someone out of their fucking mind crazy."

Reborn's head shot up at that, and Tsuna could almost feel a targeting system locking onto him from those eerie black depths. "Tsuna's very liberal with his choice of lovers, Xanxus. How do you know Mukuro is the one he chose to give it up to? For all we know, it could be one of almost a dozen people. He gets around, after all."

"Reborn!" Tsuna spun to glare at him with eyes that weren't angry so much as filling quickly with a deep, sharp pain. "How can you say something like that when you know it isn't true? We talked about this just this morning!" He was struggling and failing to keep himself from tearing up as the pain grew over Reborn's spiteful words.

"All I know is what I see, Tsuna," Reborn said, his voice cold and sharp. "What I see is coming home to a variety of different people in your bed every night. Xanxus is right, too. Sleeping around Rokudo Mukuro without someone to protect you is foolish and dangerous." It was clear Reborn was lashing out, especially given that he'd sat in Italy comfortably and watched Tsuna nap with Mukuro, but Tsuna's brain couldn't focus enough to remember that at the moment. All he could see and feel was hurt.

"If you're going to whore around, at least do it safely. Sleeping with people who've tried to kill you or possess you in the past is just a sign of how stupid you still are." Reborn paused for a moment, and then lashed out again. "Or maybe what you're hoping for is that if they become attached to you, you can continue to stand behind them when you're in danger? Use them to keep yourself safe?"

He'd taken plenty of criticism, constructive and otherwise from Reborn and other people over the years, but he'd learned from it and grown. This wasn't criticism; this was a brutal personal attack from the last person he'd expected it from. Reborn was his tutor, his friend, his protector. Reborn was his confidant; the one person he thought had truly understood him. Now, as he stood there gaping at him as the harsh words processed through his mind, all Tsuna could do was hurt.

Later, when he had time to think about it, he'd realize that Reborn wasn't angry with him. When Reborn was angry with Tsuna, the punishment was quick, brutal and always over with quickly. It was always clear, as well, what he'd done wrong. This was different. It was darker, more dangerous and vicious, and it was coming from somewhere deep inside Reborn and centered around an old, lingering pain and frustration that Tsuna couldn't even understand at his age.

Unable to process all of this, Tsuna did the only thing he could think of. It wasn't in his nature to lash out against the people he loved, just to hurt them back. At the same time, he wasn't going to take any more of this. Turning away from them both, it took him a moment to tug on his gloves and summon his flames again, and in another moment he was airborne, bolting away from them and away from Reborn's words as fast as he could. There was no point in staying and fighting when all he could feel was pain; pain so sharp it blinded him and had Tsuna bent over slightly, almost as if protecting his heart.

"You fucking idiot," Xanxus snarled, glaring down at Reborn as they watched Tsuna flee. "I get that you've got your balls twisted over all of this for some fucking reason, but you think the best way to deal with that is to chase the shrimp off unprotected?" A quick wave of his hand and a snap of his fingers and the air next to Xanxus blurred and Viper appeared, floating over his shoulder.

"Boss?" the Arcobaleno asked, glancing at him for orders.

"Follow him. Stay out of sight and don't let him sense you. But the minute anyone makes a move towards him, I want to know. Reborn just decided to fuck everything up and the heir to our Family is running around like a hysterical teenager with a broken heart. Keep him from getting himself killed while I beat the hell out of this bastard to get his head on straight. We can't afford to be weak right now."

"Understood." In a flash, Viper was gone, off to trail Tsuna silently and stand guard.

"Who do you think you're talking about, Xanxus?" Reborn snarled, glaring up at him in an almost-rage.

"A fucking idiot who cares more about marking territory in any way he can than about being the advisor and guardian he's supposed to be. If anything happens to that kid, Reborn, it's on your shoulders." In a flash, Xanxus attacked, venting his own anger at the situation on the only one he could.

They fought for close to an hour, destroying large portions of the canyon while Xanxus tried to beat sense into Reborn and Reborn vented his frustration and anger on the other assassin. It was brutal, dangerous and destructive and in the end, they both wound up flat on their backs, watching the sun set. They were drenched in sweat and panting.

"You're still a fucking idiot," Xanxus snarled at him, still glaring. "And he's so stupid he doesn't understand why you're being such a fucking asshole."

"Shut up," Reborn replied, glaring right back at him. "It's none of your business how I treat Tsuna. You're another one of those people I don't want him spending time with."

"Why?" Xanxus smirked at him slowly and dangerously. "Worried he'll choose me over you? I'm a damned good lay, after all. I could make him scream and beg for me, Reborn, and twist him so he'd never think of anyone else ever again. I could use him to get everything I've ever wanted from this Family, and he'd thank me for it every time I fucked him and beg for me to take him again."

The air around them grew cold and dangerous as Reborn growled in a tone that was distinctly separate from his appearance and his shadow on the ground stretched to an adult size. Leon glowed orange at the tip and Xanxus finally lifted his hands casually in surrender, having proved his point. It was obvious Reborn was struggling through some things he needed to get sorted out before he drove Tsuna away with his anger over them.

"Just so you understand," Xanxus said, flopping back down comfortably. "You won't be stuck like this forever, you bastard. If you want him to be there when you make it, you'd better get your shit together or someone's going to dive in and take what you consider yours, and there'll be nothing you can do but suffer over it."

"Tsuna's not an idiot like you," Reborn replied, letting Leon shift back and crawl up onto the brim of his hat. "He knows who he belongs to. He just needs to be reminded sometimes." Reborn's confident words were in direct conflict with the frustration pouring off him in waves.

"Then what are you so fucking worried about?" Xanxus asked, snorting and then yawning. "If he knows, and you know, then why are you being such an idiot?"

Reborn was silent, which was answer enough in the end. They stayed like that together, watching the sun set. Finally Xanxus stood and dusted himself off, tucking his dossier into his back pocket and waving slightly over his shoulder as he left Reborn behind.

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*Title translates to "let injury by words be absent".


	29. Chapter XXIII: Vitiis nemo sine nascitur

**Chapter XXIII: Vitiis nemo sine nascitur (Sawada Household / Namimori / Current Day)**

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**A/N:** Wow, there's been so much positive feedback over the past few chapters! I'm so happy you're all enjoying this story as much as I'm enjoying writing it. It just continues to encourage me to keep writing and writing. This and the next few chapters will be hard to read, I think, but will get us far closer to where we want to be in the end, as writer and readers!

Once again, I want to give a heartfelt thank you to Ai-chan (my muse) and thi-hoai (my beta). They make doing this so much easier and a lot more fun.

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The door to Tsuna's room was locked tightly and the lights were out. He'd locked the windows and pulled the curtains closed as well. He'd made up a story about a severe headache on his way in and asked his mom to keep everyone out for a while so that he could rest. Now he was curled up in a ball on the bed, knees to his chest and arms tight around his legs. It was a protective position, he thought to himself foggily, protecting his heart that hurt so much at the moment. His face and his shirt were soaked, the tears having stopped only recently, although one would slide down his cheek every now and then to join the hundreds of others that had already fallen.

It wasn't as if he hadn't faced critical words in the past, or that he and Reborn hadn't argued or outright fought in the past years. It happened regularly, to be honest, but there was always a point to it that was beyond the emotion of the moment. There was always some lesson, some point, to what Reborn tried to get across to him when they clashed.

This time, however, Tsuna couldn't see past the pain to find the lesson in all of this, if there even was one. Reborn had lashed out at him relentlessly and brutally, targeting Tsuna's most insecure emotions and fed the fears that he'd worked so hard to overcome. In one argument, he'd somehow managed to shake the foundation of Tsuna's sense of self-worth and leave him broken and completely unsure of himself for the first time in ages.

He couldn't believe Reborn had driven him into running away from him with such a short argument. He'd ended up flying for a good hour before heading home, limp and exhausted. He'd greeted his mom, hugged the kids and then finally asked her to let him be for a while. After fleeing to his room he'd been locked in this position for hours and nothing had managed to stir him from it. All he could hear were those words in his head, over and over again, tearing into him and making him gasp in pain with every repetition.

The sun had set fully when the sound of others returning echoed through the house, and Tsuna could hear his father asking where Tsuna was, seconded by Basil. He knew Basil would respect his privacy but had no illusions about his father's ability to do so, especially if he thought something was wrong. It was also likely that Reborn had returned as well, and he was in no place mentally to deal with another round of those painful words from the person he cared about the most. Sometimes the best way to fight a battle was to stage a strategic retreat.

Sliding off the bed, he tugged his shirt off and scrubbed his face dry and clean before pulling on a fresh one and grabbing a sweatshirt to pull on as well. Then he tossed a few things in his book bag. A clean uniform and boxers, spare toothbrush and his keys joined his homework and cell phone. Rummaging in his desk, he found his spare cash and loaded up his wallet. If being here wasn't comfortable, he could at least look after part of his Family by making a real grocery run for Mukuro and his group and then crashing at someone's house for the night. He could check his crashing options on his way out to Mukuro. By the time school was over tomorrow, maybe he would have found his center again.

He still had his contacts in, so a little bottle of saline would carry him over to the next day or two. His headphones hung around his neck still from the training session. He tucked his gloves and box in his pocket and the Dying Will pills into his other pocket. He didn't really need them often anymore, but it would suck to get stuck in a fight that didn't rile him enough to be able to light his own flames. Better safe than sorry.

Satisfied with his packing, he picked up his room a bit and made the bed quickly before nodding to himself. There was no sign of his distress here anymore, and that was good enough for him. Anything showing on his face could be played off as the result of his headache and by the time they all saw him again, he'd look normal again, somehow.

There was one more thing, however, that he needed to take care of, before slipping out. "Viper, I appreciate your respect for my privacy in all of this. I'm sorry that you have to see me this way. A good boss is supposed to be strong, right? I guess I fail at that, too."

A slight blurring near the window revealed Viper's shape. "I didn't think you'd be so careless as to not notice me. You've grown too much lately for that. I'll continue to be invisible, but you understand that you can't be left unprotected."

"I understand," Tsuna nodded in agreement and sighed softly as the illusionist faded from sight again.

Unlocking the door, he slipped out into the hallway, leaving it open behind him for the kids to find. If he couldn't be here to help them with their homework, at least they could do it at his table and pretend to be older, a game they loved. Hopping his way down the stairs quickly, he winced at the volume coming from the kitchen and sighed, pausing for a long moment before peering into the room. It would have been easier to simply go out the front door and not say anything, but it would also have been insanely irresponsible of him.

"Mom, I'm going out for a while, okay?" he smiled at her reassuringly, knowing that she'd been worried when he'd come home so pale and miserable. "I need to run some errands. I don't know how long they'll take. If it's going to be too late, I'll probably crash at one of the guys' houses. I'll call if that happens."

"Tsu-kun," his mother turned to face him, her face lighting up as she came over to him and hugged him. "Are you sure you should be going out after a headache like that? I was so worried."

"I'm fine," Tsuna reassured her, returning the hug and blushing lightly like any good teenage boy would. "I just needed a little rest." He avoided looking at the table and the people there. "But I'll be around people the whole time, so don't worry. You know me; I'm never alone these days. If I start feeling sick again, I won't be careless about it. I promise."

"Is there anything I can help with?" she asked him, reaching up a warm hand to soothe his forehead. "You've been working so hard these days with that part-time job of yours and school."

"It's fine, Mom, really." Tsuna smiled at her warmly then. "I'm going to go out and make sure Chrome is eating properly and Mukuro too. They never eat enough and they're too thin. Then I'm going to make Hayato help me with the rest of my homework so I don't have to worry about it tomorrow. I've got my cell phone, so if you need me you can reach me."

There, he'd fulfilled his obligation to let his protectors know he'd be out, but with other people who could protect him if needed. He knew Lal at least would spot Viper hanging in the air behind him. Until things started to heat up, that was more than adequate, even with their standards. They could fuck themselves if they felt the need to criticize who he was with or where he was going.

He waved over his shoulder as he turned and left, not about to let himself be dragged into another argument with anyone, especially in front of his mother. To that end, he brutally ignored the sharp and curious look his father sent him, the pleading look from Basil and both sets of penetrating Arcobaleno eyes that tried to catch his attention from the table. He was proud that he managed to resist a rude hand gesture at Reborn, however. It would have been unfair to Lal, who was sitting next to him at the table.

Slipping out of the front door and through the gate, he found that he could finally breathe again when he reached the street. He made it to the end of the block before he heard the front door open again and the sound of very familiar footsteps. That was it for Tsuna and his temper finally snapped. There was no fucking way he was going to have any additional words about all of this tonight. Not until the pain went away.

His anger and pain fueled his temper and before he even realized it, his gloves had changed and he was airborne, launching himself over the rooftops easily. There was a grocery store close to Kokuyo, he remembered, and he decided to stop there after checking out where he could crash for the night. Flame streaked the sky as he headed towards Hayato's first. It was usually one of the safest bets and he was always welcome in his friend's tiny apartment.

When he landed silently on the balcony outside the window however, he noticed that Hayato already had company. His eyes widened slightly when he realized that Hayato and Yamamoto had outstripped him again in their sexual adventures, but he watched for a while, admiring both of his friends with a small smile on his face before launching himself backwards over the railing again. He knew without a doubt that they would welcome him in, but that wasn't what his heart wanted tonight.

The two of them being together so intimately limited his options a bit, but there were still a couple left. He let himself float in the air while he thought, before nodding to himself and heading towards the Namimori shrine. As long as he was quiet and behaved himself, he should be welcome there.

Making sure to land by the stairs to the shrine rather than right in front of it, he took his time as he walked the last distance and breathed in the quiet night air of the shrine, feeling himself unwind a bit. While he wasn't sure quite where to go to find what he was looking for, Tsuna also knew that Hibari would find him soon enough. His Cloud Guardian kept a close eye on what Tsuna was up to, whether he admitted it or not. So he wasn't surprised when the other teen appeared as he reached the shrine itself, melting out of the summer darkness.

"Shouldn't you be at home with the baby, Sawada Tsunayoshi?" Hibari asked him quietly. "It's rare to see you alone outside of the school."

"I was hoping you'd be willing to offer me shelter for the night, Hibari-san," Tsuna said, his shoulders slumping. "It's too noisy and crowded at my house right now and I could use some peace and quiet to think about some things." He was careful not to mention out loud that he wasn't alone. It was better to keep Viper's silent presence a secret.

Hibari looked at him thoughtfully for a full minute before suddenly nodding sharply and turning, gesturing for Tsuna to follow him. Grateful for the welcome, especially with him arriving so unexpectedly, Tsuna followed him obediently. He kept quiet and focused on taking in the beautiful shrine grounds, enjoying the quiet tranquility of the place. It was easy to see why Hibari would love it so much, even ten years from now. It was a good place to find your center again.

Within ten minutes, Tsuna's things were tucked away in Hibari's room and a second futon had been laid out to accommodate him. Rather than babbling on about how grateful he was, Tsuna simply rested a gentle hand on Hibari's shoulder before squeezing lightly in gratitude. He knew Hibari would understand the gesture and appreciate it more than a lot of useless words.

"I need to make sure that Chrome and Mukuro have food tonight," he said quietly. "It shouldn't take too long for me to run out there and back. Do you think you can show me how to get rid of this whatever-it-is inside of me that's eating away at me tonight?"

Hibari looked at him thoughtfully before nodding. "We'll meditate when you return. I have homework to do."

With that, Hibari promptly ignored Tsuna's presence, which allowed Tsuna to slip out quietly with just his money, phone and weapons and head out towards Kokuyo. He stopped at the small store along the way and stocked up on fruit, vegetables, prepared and fresh healthy foods and juices and tea for his friends. He walked from there, because flying while carrying heavy grocery bags was just asking for a crash landing.

The stars were out when he reached his destination. It didn't take long for them to notice him and before long the bags were gone, stolen away by Chikusa and Ken, who huddled in a corner with Chrome, looking everything over, much to Tsuna's amusement. He knew that Haru and Kyoko spent time teaching Chrome to cook these days, so he'd tried to keep that in mind when shopping for them. The smile she gave him as she found various items made it more than worthwhile.

"You didn't have to do this, Tsunayoshi," the dark voice came from behind him and rather than flinching from it, Tsuna let himself lean backwards into the taller body he knew was now directly behind him.

Warm arms wrapped around him and held him close. It unclenched something inside him and some of that terrible hurt untangled. Sighing softly, he turned himself in the circle of Mukuro's arms and buried his face against the other boy's neck. His own arms wound around Mukuro snugly, settling above his hips.

"I did it because you're all important to me," Tsuna replied, his words slightly muffled by the position of his mouth, but he knew the others would hear him as well, which made it worth saying. "If it was just an obligation, I'd open a line of credit for you or something. Doing this makes me happy, and tonight I really, really just needed that."

"Show me, Tsunayoshi, what's eating at your heart tonight," Mukuro whispered against his ear, one hand sliding into Tsuna's hair. "Pain that is shared is pain that is lessened. I learned that from you."

Nodding, Tsuna clung a little tighter and opened his mind to Mukuro, showing him the fight and the words that tore at him so painfully. He could feel his body flinching as it replayed in his head all over again. Even the feel of Mukuro's arms tightening around him couldn't stop the renewed pain.

"What unexpectedly childish things for an Arcobaleno to say," Mukuro murmured darkly, dropping a soft kiss along Tsuna's skin. "How very foolish of him. I should not have left, I suppose. Would you like me to show him how foolish such behavior can be? I'd be more than happy to test myself against him. He should know how wrong he is."

"What hurts the most is that it's not true," Tsuna said, his hands clenching on Mukuro's coat tightly. "I would never use any of you as a shield that way, or manipulate you into standing in front of me like that. Not any way at all, but especially not that way. That's not what it's about."

"It's foolish of him to think that physical pleasure would give any of us a reason to take a bullet for you, or anyone else. We're a selfish lot, after all." Mukuro chuckled and pulled Tsuna closer. "Not one of us, even the child, is foolish enough to be manipulated like that. I can't speak for the others, Tsunayoshi, but I can tell you why I would keep you safe."

He pulled back enough to look into Tsuna's eyes. "I will shield you because after all that our first Family did to us, you didn't hesitate in giving us a home in yours, even though we didn't think we wanted it then. You persevered and kept giving, with no thought of reward or benefit from our strength. You worried over Ken, Chikusa and I even though we tried to kill you. You fed Chrome even when she fled from human contact. Those are the reasons I will keep you safe. Not because I enjoy the time we spent getting happily sweaty and sticky together. Although I do find I'm fond of that as well."

Tsuna chuckled at that and relaxed against him, smiling slightly. "I thought you would say that. I know I shouldn't have let it get to me so much, but it just hurts. I know there's something more to it than what was said; I just can't think clearly enough to get past the hurt to find the truth. It's like in this situation, my supposedly amazing insight has just shut itself off."

"Ah, I've heard there are emotions that can cloud any sort of thinking," Mukuro mused, resting his chin on Tsuna's shoulder. "But I think it's best to let you sort out your relationship with the Arcobaleno yourself. I doubt he'd appreciate my interference. The only thing that I can say is that such an outburst from him is unusual, so perhaps his thinking is also unclear at the moment, for whatever reason."

"Reborn, confused?" Tsuna blinked in shock at the thought. Reborn might not always have the answer to every problem, but his insight rivaled what Tsuna had inherited and had decades of experience behind it. To think that his tutor would ever lash out like that because he wasn't thinking clearly was just unheard of.

"Remember, Tsunayoshi, even cursed, he's still human. He's still as emotional, flawed and self-destructive as every other human." Mukuro chuckled and finally released Tsuna, stepping back. "I think that if you follow that reasoning, eventually you'll figure things out. In the meantime, I think I'll escort you back into town." He glanced out the windows thoughtfully, his eyebrow lifting with what could only be called curious interest with a tinge of danger to it. "It's a lovely night out."

"You're not offering so you can pick a fight with Hibari when we get there, are you?" Tsuna ran a hand through his hair anxiously. "I don't think it's a good idea to start a fight with him at the shrine. He'd probably kill us both."

"This once I suppose I can promise I won't be fighting with Kyoya-chan," Mukuro offered, waving a lazy hand at the others and leading Tsuna out into the night again. "Let's go, Tsunayoshi. I'd like to get the two of us and your Arcobaleno shadow from this place, if you don't mind."

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*Title translates to "no one is born without faults".


	30. Chapter XXIV: Omnibus locis fit caedes

**Chapter XXIV: Omnibus locis fit caedes (Kokuyo Land / Namimori / Current Day)**

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**A/N: **Again, another painfully hard chapter to write, and it took me a long time to go back and finish it, because reading it kept upsetting me. I'm a big fan of drama but I think I'm a bit empathic when it comes to putting myself in the character's shoes, so it takes me longer to deal with hard chapters like these few.

I'd like to thank Ai-chan for inspiring me the way she does every day and thi_hoai for loaning me her awesome beta skills. Also, thi_hoai has fabulous theories on Reborn's personality that I wanted to share:

Reborn is probably a rare, 50-50 mid-type personality: XNTP (INTP/ENTP). So usually, he's on-and-off initiative/reactive (Keirsey), "assertive/hands-off" (X), holistic-thinking (N), logical (T), and non-judgmental (P). His battery of functioning is very versatile as a 50-50 mid-type (X) and he can think in two different ways/orders simultaneously:

Ti Ne Si Fe (Internally-based process: interpretive analysis, catering to logical consideration)

Ne Ti Fe Si (Externally-based process: analytical interpretation, catering to socio-dynamics)

However, this probably means he can _stress out_ in two ways simultaneously.

Stressed, Reborn may recess into an XSFJ flip-side. He'd become concrete/linear (S), feeling/irrational (F), and judgmental/"black and white" (J)—and then_ these_ (the poor bastard) will manifest both outwardly and inwardly… _equally_ (X). Chances are:

The outwardly-manifested stress (E/SFJ) is the unfair criticism that Tsuna fell prey to.

1. (Fe) Snapping at Tsuna because

2. (Si) "blah happened/was done,"

3. and (Ne) "it's wrong because blah"

4. Weak (Ti): Nooooot quite thinking it through.

The inwardly-manifested stress (I/SFJ) is Reborn's inner turmoil—unfair criticism directed at himself.

1. (Si) Looking back on "blah," what was "done wrong,"

2. (Fe) feeling lonely and wanting companionship,

3. (Ti) and then dwelling on the precise mechanisms of the "blah" that makes him feel bad.

4. Weak (Ne): Not quite forgiving himself, because he's _not looking at the context or acknowledging that he's part of it_. Combined with (Ti), he becomes more fatalistic and feels critical about his irrational, interpersonal needs.

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Tsuna glanced over to Mukuro thoughtfully for a moment, absorbing what he'd said, before nodding. There was something subtle and dangerous in the way his Guardian was looking at the land around them. Trusting in Mukuro's skill, as well as his instincts that were prodding at him almost desperately now, he followed Mukuro's lead.

They walked briskly back towards town, keeping to the shadows along the road that were cast by the overhanging trees. Not being as familiar with or aware of this area as Mukuro was, it took Tsuna a few minutes to catch the visible signs that had urged his Guardian into action. There was a rustle here, a shadow there, all out of place in this environment.

Mukuro obviously wasn't the only one who had noticed the danger, and Tsuna noticed that more and more he and Mukuro were blending into the shadows and becoming harder and harder to see with the physical eye. He would have assumed it was Mukuro's work, except that the illusionist smirked slightly and glanced up and to the left with an appreciative chuckle. So it was clear that Viper had decided to take action already. It wouldn't hold long, however, if there was a crowd as large as the suspicious noises indicated was out there hunting them. This was happening a lot earlier than he'd expected, which meant it was either an extreme reaction to his acquisition of Verde, or one of the other steps he'd taken recently was making someone nervous.

Without a second thought, Tsuna slipped his hand into his pocket and pressed the panic button on his keychain that would alert Reborn to the situation. His father had just given it to him a couple of days ago, and it connected him not only to Reborn, Iemitsu and Lal, but also to Vongola headquarters, which meant that the alert would go out lightning-fast from there. Help would come.

Knowing it would take some time for additional help to arrive however, Tsuna slipped both hands into his pockets next and slid his gloves on but left them where they were for now. There was no point in starting a fight now while they were waiting for backup. Better to wait and see what happens, in hopes that they could avoid a fight until they faced better odds.

"How irritating, Tsunayoshi," Mukuro mused at his side, their strides matching easily as they walked. "I guess I'll have to keep my word about leaving Kyoya-chan alone tonight after all. I was hoping to get at least a few good insults in to keep him riled until our date. It's so easy to irritate him."

"Sorry, Mukuro," Tsuna replied, shaking his head ruefully, truly regretful of the impact his choices would have on the people he cared about. "Things get stranger and stranger every day. People are getting more and more proactive these days, I guess." He felt his keychain vibrate lightly, confirming that his signal had been received. "Still, it's good to have friends you can count on, when you need them."

Mukuro nodded at him sagely, Tsuna's silent message received and understood. "It shouldn't take too long to handle this errand. It doesn't seem all that difficult. Work like that goes faster with more help, though."

"I appreciate all the help I can get," Tsuna told him ruefully, shaking his head. "It makes things easier."

They continued walking, but their eyes were no longer calm and relaxed. Tsuna could feel Viper's tension hovering over them as well. Something was going to happen here, something dangerous, and there was no avoiding it. All Tsuna could do was fight as well as he could to protect the members of his Family who had agreed to protect him on this walk. It was strange to him that two of the most independent and difficult of his Family were the ones walking with him tonight, but part of him realized they were also two of the most isolated and lonely as well; Mukuro because of his imprisonment and Viper because of his curse. It strengthened his resolve to protect them as best he could.

They were passing an abandoned storefront on the side of the road when the attack came from three sides. It was clear it was supposed to come from all four sides but the men coming at them from the back vanished in an illusion of ice and clouds as Viper took action to protect them. All Tsuna could hear from behind them were screams and the random shout of a confused order. Trusting in the Varia assassin to watch their backs, Mukuro and Tsuna were able to focus on the rest of their attackers.

In a blur of bright flame and deadly shadow, Tsuna and Mukuro moved, not about to lose out to thugs like this when they had people they'd sworn to protect. It was clear in moments that neither of them were the young fighters who had battled it out for possession of Tsuna's body. They'd both grown in skill and strength since then, and they used what they'd learned. Still, the numbers were disadvantageous to them, and it was a struggle to hold their own and avoid being overwhelmed.

Step by step, lunge by lunge, they were closed in on by the enemy. It was dangerous now, dangerous to the point where Tsuna was debating the risks of grabbing Mukuro and retreating by flight, sticking close to the ground to avoid making them a huge target. Guns or no guns, gambling on his ability to fly faster than they could take aim might be their only option. He'd just turned to Mukuro slightly to warn him of his intentions when the squeal of tires and an explosion nearby signaled the arrival of the cavalry and drove the enemy towards Tsuna and Mukuro.

When Tsuna finally had a chance to look up again, he had to blink in surprise. He'd known help was coming, but he certainly hadn't been expecting this. Xanxus was standing on the hood of a car, fire blasting from the guns he held with casual ease, taking out target after target, body shifting slightly now and then to dodge a bullet or other projectile, his face deadly calm and his eyes hyper-focused on the attackers around them. The glimpses he caught confirmed Tsuna's opinion of Xanxus as a large, dangerous, feline predator. It was even more impressive to see him fight when he wasn't obsessed or full of rage.

Nearby, Hayato and Takeshi were also laying into the enemy, focusing on the swarm of men coming from one side of the road while Xanxus held the other. Between the three of them, bodies were falling left and right. Some part of Tsuna had to pause and mourn inside, because he realized then that somewhere in this fight, he'd killed his first man with his own hands and several other men as well.

These hit men simply weren't on the level of Tsuna and his Guardians, or even most of the enemies they'd faced. They were relying more on numbers than skill. The blows the Vongola were lashing out with were fatal to an enemy like this. There wasn't time to mourn for long, however, because the swarm seemed almost endless. The arrival of the others did give Tsuna and Mukuro a bit of breathing room, however, as Xanxus, Takeshi and Hayato unleashed their strength.

Between the two breaking waves of the Vongola assault however was a sight, Tsuna thought dumbly to himself, that most people would associate with death. He'd known his tutor was dangerous, but he realized now that he'd really had no idea the things Reborn hid about himself to make Tsuna more comfortable with being around him. Reborn wasn't just fighting; he was on a violent and deadly rampage. It was like nothing Tsuna had ever seen before.

Reborn's pacifier was on fire; not simply glowing like it had in the past. Flames were licking off of the pacifier, and the light coming from it kept getting stronger and stronger, glowing like the sun and matching the glow on the end of his gun before each shot he fired. Tsuna wondered if a normal person would have been terrified by the sight and one glance at the men attacking them told him they would be. Bodies fell like a wave beneath Reborn's rage, and Tsuna found it almost hypnotically beautiful.

Tsuna paid for his distraction, however, when a blow threw him up into the air. He used his gloves, catching himself and finding balance, struggling to get back onto the ground before he made himself too big a target. Flying was great when facing mechanical robots or large and strange enemies, but it was stupid and dangerous unless he had no choice but to do it, when there could be snipers in the woods and the enemies beneath him had handguns. Fighting in the crowd protected him more than his own flame would when he was in the sky. Reborn had taught him that lesson brutally.

Unfortunately he didn't move fast enough, or maybe the blow had been planned to force him up into the air. Before he could drop back down to the safety of the crowd, he felt a thud strike him. Later he'd describe it as what it might feel like to be hit by Takeshi's baseball bat at full speed, right in the stomach. The blow threw him back and he lost control of his own flame, blasting himself back further and at a highly accelerated rate, unable to stop as he slammed through the wall of the abandoned building and a few additional interior walls before finally slamming roughly into a wall that didn't give.

"TSUNA!" Tsuna knew that voice he thought to himself as he slid down the wall and wheezed, trying to force air back into his lungs while clutching at his abdomen with both arms. It was the voice that brutally woke him up every morning, the same voice that bullied him into learning what he needed to for school, the same voice that taught him things about life that he hadn't realized he needed to know until after he'd learned them. "Hold them here! Kill them all if you have to, but don't let them near him!"

Struggling to stand, he was surprised to find that his legs weren't working the way they should and he pulled an arm away from his stomach to brace it on the floor, trying to push himself back up. He knew that staying on the ground in a fight could get him killed. He froze, however, when he saw the dark liquid smear his hand left along the floor as it slid out from under him, his arms too weak to push his body up. Looking down at his stomach, he froze and whimpered. It wasn't until he saw all the blood that the pain set in, pushing the shock of the initial blow out of his mind.

It wasn't like Tsuna hadn't seen blood before. He'd seen his own often enough in a fight, but this was more, bigger, different. His blood was pooling out from his body as he struggled to get up. It wasn't until he fell to the floor again that he realized what that blow had been. He'd been shot and he was lying here, bleeding on a filthy floor while his friends risked their lives to protect him. It infuriated him and he slammed his fist onto the floor, barely noticing that his flame was flickering now, fading as the shock from the injury set in and the world switched from color to black and white with the beat of his heart.

"Oh fuck, Tsuna!" The footsteps were familiar, although they shifted to a more panicked rush, and the voice soothed something inside of him, as frustrated and scared as he was now. "Tsuna, don't move. I'm coming. Please, Tsuna, just stay still."

Looking up, Tsuna thought someone must have turned the lights on in the building until he realized the glow was entirely from Reborn's pacifier, which was flaming brightly enough to light the entire building and the part of the street he could see through the holes his body had made. The look on Reborn's face scared him. It was pale and terrified, and that was when Tsuna knew how badly he must be injured. He'd seen Reborn worried, stressed and angry but never scared, and this went leagues beyond scared.

"Reborn?" he asked, coughing and then flinching as blood splattered his glove. His blood, he realized, coming from his mouth. "Reborn, it hurts…"

"Don't worry, Tsuna," Reborn said, coming to a stop beside him and moving Tsuna's other hand to check the wound and then rolling him slightly to look at his back before settling him down again. "I'll take care of everything." His tiny hand reached out and touched Tsuna's forehead gently, reassuring him. "Trust me. I'll take good care of you."

Tsuna could hear the fear and panic still in Reborn's voice, but his awareness of it faded as the light around Reborn shifted and grew, both in size and intensity. Then energy poured into Tsuna's body from Reborn's hand on his head and the other hand on his stomach and all Tsuna felt for a long moment was the sun on his skin like a scorching hot summer day, except the heat was pouring through him, touching every cell of his body. In the end, he had to close his eyes at the brightness and intensity of the light and let himself fall into the heat.

Reborn was healing him, something inside Tsuna realized after a long moment. The same way Ryohei could with his box weapon. His tutor, however, was doing it with his bare hands and the power of his flames combined with the pacifier. The brighter Reborn's pacifier glowed, the more something tugged at Tsuna, and suddenly his own flame flared brightly again from his ring and gloves before flowing towards Reborn, and then being absorbed into the pacifier. That was the point where the world went a bit hazy for Tsuna as his eyes snapped open and suddenly Reborn wasn't small anymore. He towered over Tsuna, even on his knees and Tsuna couldn't look away from him.

The pain in Tsuna's stomach faded and his head slowly started to clear as Reborn's power washed through him, healing the damage. As his body healed, Tsuna watched the expression on Reborn's adult face shift from panic and fear to relief, and then to a dark, dangerous rage. Tsuna flinched back slightly from the anger, not sure what he'd done to make Reborn so furious with him, until the hands on his body moved and Reborn turned, gun in hand again, and fired, brutally eliminating the enemy as they tried to sneak up from behind.

Realizing the danger that still surrounded them, Tsuna struggled to push himself up and protect his tutor. He wasn't about to let anyone hurt Reborn. He'd made it to his feet and managed to fire off a small but still effective burst of flame, nowhere near his normal X-Burner quality, but enough to chase off most of the enemy from the building for the moment.

"Sit your ass down, Tsuna," Reborn growled, spinning to face him for a moment, glaring at him darkly, his gun flashing again in the opening as he took out another man without bothering to pay any attention to him. "Let me handle this. I don't need you to protect me."

Tsuna pulled back from the fight and settled to the floor again, a bit thrown from his determination by the look in Reborn's eyes. He found himself wondering how many other people had seen this angry, protective look. For some reason his memory threw back the comment Reborn had made years ago about Bianchi making costumes for his smaller body while she was in grade school, and he felt something inside him loosen. This anger, this rage, this sheer violence was centered completely on Reborn's need to protect Tsuna.

It didn't take long after that for the fight to end. By the time Tsuna had really caught his breath and managed to get his brain back into full working order, there wasn't much left to do inside the house. The quieting sounds from outside and the loud arguments taking place between his Guardians and Xanxus told him things had gone well out there, as well. He took a deep breath that promptly seized in his chest as Reborn turned back to face him, the rage in his eyes gone but the anger still there, burning dangerously as he moved to rejoin Tsuna.

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*Title translates to "let there be slaughter everywhere".


	31. Chapter XXV: Cor ad cor loquitur

**Chapter XXV: Cor ad cor loquitur (Kokuyo / Namimori / Current Day)**

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**A/N:** As always, thanks to Ai-chan for inspiring me and thi_hoai for beta reading!

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Tsuna pulled himself to his feet as Reborn moved towards him. This new version of Reborn was more intimidating and to be honest bigger than Tsuna had ever expected, and he didn't want to face him while lounging on his ass. He was fully healed now, if a bit shaky from nerves, and the amount of energy Reborn had poured into him had balanced him out somewhat.

Reborn was angry with him, he could tell, but he had a feeling that it would hurt Reborn if Tsuna flinched away from him now, after having seen him so clearly. If there was one thing he never wanted to do, it was to hurt Reborn. So Tsuna got his feet under him, leaned against the wall and focused on the moment, pushing the fact that he was wet and sticky with his own blood from his mind, along with the sheer volume of violence that Reborn had displayed tonight.

"So that's what you really look like," Tsuna mused, his eyes wandering all over Reborn's adult form curiously and with quite a bit of admiration. Reborn was tall and dark, with sharp eyes that seemed to pierce Tsuna to the core. If Tsuna thought Xanxus was a lion then Reborn was a tiger; long and lean and brutally dangerous at all times. The suit and hat only complemented his body and Tsuna could feel his focus on the current situation wavering.

"I'm really pissed at you right now, Tsuna. Don't go all girly crush over my pretty face until you've groveled appropriately for making me this angry." Dark eyes flashed in that sharp, dangerous face as Reborn glared down at Tsuna.

"No one said you were pretty, Reborn," Tsuna said, slowly inching his way sideways and away from the dangerous man in an attempt to escape his anger without looking like he was fleeing. His mind spun, trying to figure out why Reborn was angry with him, just as angry as he'd been when he'd lashed out at Tsuna earlier in the day.

Thoughts and words flashed through his head and finally, finally he began to see what Mukuro meant. Maybe seeing Reborn like this had finally gotten Tsuna's head on straight, but now his mind started to clear. His eyes met Reborn's and Tsuna could finally see. He could see the absolute terror inside Reborn at the danger Tsuna had put himself in without discussing it with him first. He could see exactly how much Reborn depended on Tsuna in ways that twisted tightly around the ways Tsuna depended on Reborn. He could see fear, pain, loss, and at the heart of it, something he never would have expected from Reborn; a deep, possessive sense of ownership and need.

"Don't lie to me, Tsuna," Reborn was suddenly much closer than he'd been a moment ago, and Tsuna flushed bright red, pressing back into the wall and praying the color of his cheeks wasn't obvious. "Anyone could tell that you're completely overwhelmed by my presence." A certain smug confidence dripped from Reborn's words.

"…what are you, a girl?" Tsuna glared up at Reborn indignantly, giving up on escape. There was no way he'd really be able to get away anyway. "You need someone like me to tell you how pretty you are?" Reaching up, Tsuna flicked the brim of Reborn's fedora lightly before stealing it. "It has nothing to do with your face. For someone who sees so much, you can be really blind sometimes. Don't you know you've been the center of my world since you first showed up?"

Reborn blinked at him in a dazed way for a moment and then the next thing Tsuna knew, strong hands were pushing him back against the wall and a hard body pressed against him, pinning him in place. Another heartbeat and those same hands captured his, hat and all, before lifting them over his head and holding them there against the wall. Hips pressed tightly against his and Tsuna was defenseless and completely vulnerable to the man holding him there. If he wanted to be forceful he could probably free himself, but instead Tsuna surrendered himself to the hold.

"Reborn," Tsuna whispered, his head falling back against the wall, "don't start thinking just because you can kick my ass that I'm going to admit you're pretty. I mean really, your hair is just a mess, even now. We won't even get into your lack of manners."

"You're such a fucking brat," Reborn muttered before sliding a leg between Tsuna's, pressing against him relentlessly. "Every time I turn around, you've got your hands all over someone and their hands all over you, all of them touching you in some way. Do you have any idea how much that pisses me off?"

"You…" Tsuna gasped, his body arching against Reborn's instinctively, "you always tell me to go after what I want, Reborn. Shouldn't that be true for you, too?" His mind was glazing over slowly, limiting his focus solely to that thigh wedged between his and the hot breath against his neck. Both were doing wicked things to his body and he knew it showed, if the subtle shifting of Reborn's thigh between his legs was anything to go by.

"How fair would that be, Tsuna?" Reborn asked, his face pressed against Tsuna's neck. "It takes most of my strength to return to this form, and it doesn't last long. The only reason it's holding so long is that you gave me so much strength of your own. What's the use in claiming something you can't care for properly?"

Tsuna's hands clenched over his head and he tugged, trying to free them so that he could touch Reborn. "Haven't you read your fairy tales, Reborn? Every curse has a loophole. We just haven't found your loophole yet. We will."

"How can you be so sure of that, Tsuna?" Reborn nuzzled along the length of Tsuna's neck, teeth grazing over his skin. "We've been like this for much longer than you've been alive." He relented, however, and released Tsuna's hands and he radiated a core-deep sense of approval when Tsuna's arms wound around him and clenched on his shoulders, pulling him closer as the hat fell to the floor.

"Because I would destroy the mafia world and everyone in it, if it would free you." It was only the truth, really. He knew it was selfish, but he also knew that saving all of the Arcobaleno was what should be done. Martyrdom wasn't appropriate for the mafia world, after all. He could feel Reborn freezing against him, more than likely preparing to argue with him about this.

"Trust in me, Reborn. Just this little bit." Tsuna's grip shifted and he slid a hand up Reborn's neck to cup his jaw. "I agreed to be the boss and protecting my Family, my loved ones, that's my privilege and responsibility."

With that, Tsuna pulled Reborn's head gently away from his neck and up, catching Reborn's mouth with his own. If Reborn was going to be stubborn, then he'd just have to take the lead for now and let the older man catch up later. There wasn't enough time left to jump through useless hoops, and he wanted to use what time he had to prove his point.

It started out gently, with Tsuna simply working to reassure him. His lips brushed over Reborn's, gentle and possessive all at the same time, working to reassure him and express his feelings as best he could. It changed instantly when Reborn responded. What began as a brush of lips turned savage and possessive as Tsuna surrendered control of the kiss. Reborn nipped at his mouth, forcing it open with a ruthless abandon.

Moaning, Tsuna melted against Reborn as his mouth was invaded. The rest of the world faded to white noise as Reborn kissed him, tongue sliding over tongue in slick, powerful strokes. This was what he didn't, no, couldn't get from anyone else; this overwhelming sense of possessiveness, of being claimed and marked. That was how he knew that while the others cared for him, it wasn't the same as his bond with Reborn. When the kiss finally broke, they were both panting and completely aroused.

"Don't kiss anyone else like that, Reborn," Tsuna demanded, pulling him tightly against his body. He could feel himself shaking slightly. "I don't think I could handle it. Bianchi is hard enough to deal with."

"I'll shoot you for real if you kiss anyone else like that, Tsuna," Reborn answered, mouth drifting over Tsuna's jaw and back to his neck where he bit firmly, right where Tsuna's neck and shoulder met. "I'll be watching. If I see any of their perverted thoughts going too far, you'll have a Family of eunuchs."

"I couldn't. There's no one else I could surrender like this to," Tsuna admitted, resting his forehead on Reborn's shoulder, immensely comforted by his words. "That's why I don't mind the rest of it. They don't want me the right way. You've always been the only one who really saw me."

Reborn's response wasn't verbal. Instead, his arms wound fully around Tsuna and held him tightly. They stayed like that as their panting slowed. This wasn't a time or place where they could pursue things much further, not with the fading sounds of arguing and cleanup outside the building. This was something private and special between them, and Tsuna wasn't ready to share it with anyone else. So instead, he held Reborn close, reassuring him as best he could that not only was he alive but that he understood Reborn's frustration and anger, and that he respected those feelings.

When the wave of power that had transformed Reborn started to fade, Tsuna was there to catch him as his cursed body returned. He sank to the floor slowly with Reborn sheltered in his arms, dead asleep. His tutor had clearly drained himself between the fight, shifting his form and healing Tsuna.

"You wore yourself out, just for me," Tsuna scolded him quietly, propping himself up against the wall with Reborn settled in his lap. "I need to take better care of you, if you're going to be that careless."

Tsuna glanced around for Reborn's hat, but it was out of reach so he left it for now. He then relocated Leon onto his own head, chuckling softly as the chameleon curled up for a nap in the brown mess. Looking around, he was satisfied that they were more than safe there as his Guardians finished off the enemy. Looking down at himself, he winced slightly. He was bloody, sticky and the new scar on his stomach was entirely nasty. Some part of him realized there was another matching scar on his back now. Still, he'd survived, Reborn wasn't angry with him anymore, and his Family was safe for now. Comforted, he followed Reborn into oblivion, falling asleep where he sat.

The others found the two of them there when the last of the fighting was over. Reborn was sitting in Tsuna's lap with his back leaning against Tsuna's chest while Tsuna's arm was curled around his waist gently. Both were snoring and didn't wake at all as the others looked them over carefully, alarmed by the sight of so much blood.

"Reborn's power is as flashy as always," Viper commented, floating over the two as they slept. "You could see that flash of power from the city, if you were looking."

"At least the brat is still alive," Xanxus commented, nudging Tsuna with a boot thoughtfully. "The old man would give me hell if the stupid midget got himself killed in the middle of nowhere and I really hate listening to him bitch."

"It's a good thing we called Tsuna's house, isn't it?" Takeshi said, leaning slightly against Hayato. "You were right about that flash you saw outside your window."

"Of course I was," Hayato said, snorting lightly. "My boss radar is highly refined these days." Glancing down at the two, he sighed. "We better get them somewhere safer and get them cleaned up before they dry and stick together."

"Tsunayoshi was planning on spending the night at the shrine with Kyoya-chan," Mukuro offered, leaning against the wall across from Tsuna.

"It's probably a better option than taking him home. It's best if the others don't see him like this." Takeshi frowned slightly.

"You mean covered in blood, most of which is his?" Xanxus snorted and bent, hoisting the two up in his arms. "Iemitsu would shit himself at the sight, which would be funny, but it might actually kill him from shock, and then I'd have to explain it. Too much work."

With that, he carried the two back to the car and tucked them into the back seat. Hayato slipped into the seat next to them, providing support. As the others piled in, Mukuro gave them a slight wave and turned, heading home instead. While he was fond of Tsunayoshi, he had no real interest in the process of protecting others from the realities of the world. A few moments later, all that was left was ash on the road where dozens of bodies had fallen and the sight of tail lights fading in the distance.

Tsuna woke much later to the feeling of hot water and hands roaming over his body. It felt nice, even as exhausted as he found himself, but when he moved his arms slightly he quickly realized something important was missing. Coherent thought faded and all he could do was struggle against the hands holding him and force his eyes open blearily.

"Reborn!" Tsuna struggled feebly looking around for his tutor desperately. "Where's Reborn?!"

"Boss, calm down," Hayato said, trying to soothe him. "It's all right. You're both safe."

Without a second thought, Tsuna reached up, grabbed a handful of Hayato's hair and roughly pulled his head around so Tsuna could meet his eyes, knowing his own were probably full of flame and panic. "Where is he? Where is Reborn?"

"Calm down, Tsuna," came the familiar voice from the doorway to what Tsuna was slowly realizing was a bathroom, although not one he was familiar with. Glancing up frantically, Tsuna froze at the sight of Reborn, back to his small size, perched on Hibari's shoulder. His tiny yukata matched Hibari's and Tsuna couldn't help but smile slightly at the sight.

"There you are," he said softly, eyes locking in on Reborn before he promptly passed out again, slipping back into Takeshi and Hayato's arms.

When he woke the next time, he was covered up on a futon and Reborn was tucked against his side, still asleep. Glancing down at himself he realized he'd acquired a yukata of his own, similar to what Hibari and Reborn had been wearing the last time he was awake. That and the futon clued him in that he was probably back at the shrine where he'd initially planned to spend the night.

With that question answered, he looked back down at Reborn and then glanced around the room, happy to find they'd been left alone to sleep. That meant there was no one around to wonder why Tsuna wrapped his arm around Reborn and smiled slightly as he curled around him slightly as he yawned. What happened between the two of them was no one else's business right now.

"You're awfully clingy today, Tsuna," Reborn commented, yawning and wriggling slightly to get more comfortable, his hair sticking out in every direction.

"Can't help it," Tsuna told him as he smiled against Reborn's hair, "so let's blame it on the trauma of getting shot. Or it could be the healing. Or maybe it's figuring out why you were so mad at me. Whatever's causing it, it'll probably last a while."

For once, Reborn didn't object. Instead, he patted Tsuna's arm reassuringly. "It's probably best if you don't think too much, Tsuna. You might hurt your brain."

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*Title translates to "heart speaks to heart".


	32. Interlude VI: Est queadam fiere voluptas

**Interlude VI: Est queadam fiere voluptas (Gokudera's Apartment / Namimori / Three Months Earlier)**

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**A/N: **This chapter is set three months before the start of Vivi memor leti, so we're going into the past now. I originally wrote this on a very depressed day but it fits so beautifully into how I see Hayato and how he interacts with the people around him that I wanted to share it. To be honest, I'd originally planned on not ever publishing it out because it really doesn't have much in the way of plot to it. But in the end I gave in, and am giving it to you all. It is shorter than most, because it's an extremely focused point of view with a tightly focused plot.

Now that we've worked our way through some angst, this is the first of I think what will be three interludes, this one in the past, one a few years in the future, and another ten years in the future. After that, I'll give you the chapters that complete this story arc. That doesn't mean that the overall story is ending, just that the plot of Vivi memor leti will have come to an end. There's plenty more of the full story to come.

As always, I have to give a huge thank you to Ai-chan and thi-hoai for inspiration and beta reading. Here's the interlude chapter! I hope you enjoy it!

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He was crying the way he always cried; alone in the dark with an unlit cigarette dangling limply from his left hand. It was raining outside, which suited his mood perfectly and allowed him to tell himself that the water running down his face was spraying in from the window he'd cracked open. It had been a shit day from the first clamor of his alarm clock to the point where he'd had to excuse himself abruptly from Tsuna's late night study group, unable to keep up the mask any longer.

It pissed him off, this feeling of being alone when he was surrounded by the best of friends. He'd never realized how loud the silence could be, sometimes, while listening to the babble of so many people he cared about. His silence. There was something inherently flawed inside him, he told himself brutally, that he couldn't find peace at all. Not within himself and not with the people who loved him. No matter what he tried, whether it was fighting, hanging out, even sex, nothing brought that sense of gentle quiet he'd heard so much about from the others.

Tonight it had all been too much, watching the easy way everyone had settled in together in Tsuna's room so comfortably and without any doubts about life or love or anything, really. Faced with the work involved in participating and appearing normal, he'd balked finally and pled exhaustion and a headache before fleeing the Sawada house, retreating back to his tiny apartment. He hadn't bothered with the lights when he'd come in, moving instead to curl up on his futon under the window and lean his cheek against the windowsill.

Watching the rain fall, he could feel the tears sliding down his cheeks silently. Crying for him wasn't cathartic as it was for others. It hurt him, ate away at the inner restraint he kept on his pain, pain he never wanted to look at too closely. So when he did cry, he couldn't help but lose himself in the pain of it, completely overwhelmed.

Lost in his tears, he didn't hear the key turn in his lock or look up at all at the shadowy figure watching him silently from the doorway. His first clue was when a warm body settled behind him on the futon and tugged the cigarette from his fingers. The arm that slid around his waist was strong, reassuring and painfully familiar. He found himself instinctively leaning back into the embrace, head moving from the windowsill to the shoulder offered silently.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice rough with suppressed emotion, his own arm rising to wrap around the one pulling him back against a familiar body. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Bianchi saw you leave and was worried, so she called me to check on you." The deep voice was murmuring against his neck, reminiscent of so many other nights when his control had slipped and the tears had fallen. A rough chin moved to rest on his shoulder. "Looks like she was right. I thought all these new friends would have changed some things for you, Hayato."

"Why? Because I can get laid now? Because I don't have to walk to school alone anymore?" Hayato snorted roughly. "I'm fine, though. Go away and stop fussing." Fuck but he hated to appear weak, especially around him.

"I didn't say you weren't fine, Hayato." Shamal's free hand rose to run gentle fingers through silver hair reassuringly. "I just worry that you'll slip over the edge into a truly fucked up emotional mess, start wearing eyeliner, dye all this pretty hair black and start wearing skirts. It'd be hard not to hit on you if you looked any more like a girl than you already do."

"You're such a perverted fucking asshole, old man," Hayato snarled at him as he relaxed against him. "Stop pushing your fetishes and dirty fantasies off on me, you cradle robber."

"You know you love me," Shamal cooed at him, teasing him mercilessly, fingers tugging a lock of hair lightly. "Although you would be absolutely adorable in a skirt."

"There's nothing about you that screams that my somehow putting effort into attracting your attention will somehow make you less of a perverted, lazy bastard, old man," Hayato told him, repeating a scolding that was almost second nature now, not even realizing that his tears had stopped and his cheeks were slowly drying. "I don't see the point of indulging you, if that's the case."

"Oh, and here I thought now that you've discovered the joys of physical intimacy, you'd understand me better, Hayato," Shamal made a sad, mournful sound that Hayato didn't believe for a moment. "The thrill of the chase, the joy of catching your prey, the blissful physical reward at the end of the hunt."

"The emptiness inside afterwards, when everyone goes home?" Hayato offered, snorting lightly. "The realization that casual sex, for all that it's fun, doesn't do anything more than get you off in the end and leave you sleepy? Don't get me wrong, I love my friends and I certainly don't mind fucking around with them. I'm not complaining, but at the end of the day, you're still alone."

"I haven't seen you sleeping alone all that much at the end of the day," Shamal commented, arm tightening around him slightly. "I certainly notice that you leave in the morning with someone more often than by yourself."

That caught Hayato's attention and he slanted a glance at the arm around him and then over to the face that was a blurry outline to the side of his own. "Are you watching me again, old man?"

"I always keep an eye on you, Hayato." Shamal's lighter flickered and he took a deep breath in as his other arm rose in front of Hayato to light his cigarette. "You tend to get yourself hurt when I don't."

Hayato thought about that as he stole Shamal's cigarette and took a drag for himself, relishing the dry smoke as it filled his lungs before exhaling slowly and tucking it back into the older man's mouth. What he'd said was true, in a way. As much as Hayato dabbled with his various fellow Family members, whoever sought him out on a given day did tend to stay through to the morning. It wasn't something he'd considered at all until now. Some part of him had assumed it had something to do with it being too much work to walk home that late, or exhaustion after whatever fun they'd gotten up to. But the truth was, at least half the days of the week, he woke up with someone's arms around him.

"You might, possibly, by a slim margin of a chance, be somewhat right about that," Hayato conceded reluctantly, his face disgruntled at having to give him even that. "But as much as it's nice, it's not fulfilling."

"You're a little young to be worrying about whether having a lot of regular sex with partners you enjoy is fulfilling or not, aren't you?" Shamal teased gently, before adjusting his position, legs moving to bracket Hayato, allowing him to lean back against the older man. "But my guess would be that what's bothering you isn't so much that as the fact that you're feeling the lack of deeper connections right now. You're not the carefree, casual sort, Hayato."

"Like I don't know that already." Hayato snorted but leaned against him, face turning slightly to rest against Shamal's neck. "But it's what there is, for now. This is all I can handle thinking my way through right now."

"It's not a shame to be young, Hayato," Shamal offered him another drag, which he took willingly. "It might seem like a burden, but it's not. You've always run headfirst towards being an adult without taking the time to experience the better parts of being the age that you are. You fight and struggle and in the end you're the one who gets hurt."

"Is that why you're really here then?" Hayato asked him, blowing smoke out slowly and watching it swirl in the air. "To keep me from doing something stupid, or worse, that you don't approve of?"

"I'm protecting my investment," was the reply Shamal gave him as he took another drag. "Take your time, Hayato. What you want so desperately will still be here even if it takes you a little longer to be ready for it."

There wasn't much he could say to that. He certainly wouldn't admit that it soothed something deep inside of him in ways that nothing else he tried would. It brought some measure of quiet, almost peace, to his mind and more importantly to his heart. Leaning back against the man who'd watched over him for most of his life now, Hayato sighed softly and made the decision that basking in the warmth of his arms was okay, as long as he didn't admit out loud how much he was enjoying it.

"You can be such a brat some days," Shamal told him softly, showing no inclination towards leaving and no discomfort with their position. Instead, he stubbed out the cigarette and wrapped his other arm around Hayato as well. "Rushing in headfirst, all the time. Haven't I told you that half the fun is the chase? There's nothing wrong with letting someone chase you for a while."

"I'll keep that in mind," Hayato replied, settling comfortably and instinctively nuzzling against his neck slightly, even as he yawned, his body going limp with exhaustion. "I just worry about you breaking a hip or getting arthritis while you chase."

"Why you little shit!" Shamal mock-glared at him, only to laugh a moment later when he realized that after delivering his last insult, Hayato had drifted off to sleep in his arms, face buried against his neck.

"Take your time, Hayato." Shamal settled them back onto the futon a bit more comfortably, resigned to sleeping over for the night. He knew from experience that there was no way he'd be getting away from the boy tonight. Not after an outpouring like that one. "Age is relative, and I'm as young and virile as any man out there and will be for decades to come."

Laughing softly to himself, he curled around the boy and let his fingers run through all that silver hair over and over as he watched the rain fall. It was a pattern they'd repeated for years now, something private and personal between the two of them. Someday it would change, but only when Hayato was ready for it. That was something they silently agreed on between them.

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*Title translates to "there is a certain pleasure in weeping".


	33. Chapter XXVI: Audentes fortuna iuvat

**Chapter XXVI:** **Audentes fortuna iuvat (Namimori Shrine & Sawada Household / Namimori / Current Day)**

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**A/N: **I know I promised interludes, but I finished this and got it back from the beta and I'm still polishing the other interlude chapters as well as the final chapters. So, you get this earlier than expected. Sorry for confusing you!

This is the first of the last four true chapters of _Vivi memor leti_. In these last chapters I'm slipping away from the overall plot to focus on Tsuna, Reborn and Xanxus. I wanted the end of this story arc to focus on the emotions that the previous chapters had engendered and to continue to move them forward so that in the next story arc, _Ex umbra in solem_, they're strongly in place and growing, to support the choices and actions that will take place there.

_Ex umbra in solem_ will move less on a day-to-day pace and span the rest of Tsuna's high school time leading up to his relocation to Italy when he graduates. This is a place where I will truly diverge from canon and you'll find out why along the way. The first chapter is already finished and ready for posting, and will go up the same day as the last chapter of _Vivi memor leti_, so the story will continue on. I simply feel like what I wanted to achieve under a title that translates to "I live remembering death" has been done now, and moving on to a story arc who's title translates to "from the shadow into the light" is more meaningful.

Without Ai-chan (aislynn_yume on LiveJournal) and thi_hoai (same on LiveJournal), this story would probably have fallen apart chapters and chapters ago. Ai-chan is my inspiration, and when I hit a block will literally spend days role-playing it out with me to figure out where I want the emotions and reactions to be. As for thi_hoai, I've never met someone who sees inside my head and understands my creativity and muse as much as she does as a beta reader. I wonder sometimes if we have a hive mind between the three of us.

Anyway, enough babble. Time to move on to the aftermath of the violence! Enjoy!

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The aftermath of such a brutal fight turned out to be surprisingly uninspiring and definitely unexciting. There was nothing in the news at all, whether because of the excellent cleanup Xanxus performed with his flames or the enormous machine that was the Vongola Family in its entirety suppressing any information that may have tried to come to light. For most of the participants, school resumed as normal and the world moved on.

There was one thing Tsuna hadn't expected, however, and that was Xanxus taking over Tsuna's office while he was laid up at the shrine recovering. The somewhat terrifying older man had simply taken over without a word, keeping the flow of paperwork and orders going while distributing the dossiers Tsuna had given him to his Varia assassins, sending them out around the world to handle the work. Tsuna didn't know why Xanxus had chosen to stay, but he had to admit he was thankful for the help.

As for Tsuna and Reborn, the next couple of days were spent resting. The shrine was ideal for this and they stayed there in the peaceful quiet until Hibari finally got fed up with them and chased them out. Tsuna was slightly amused to realize it took Hibari a good thirty-six hours longer than Reborn had predicted to throw them out in the end. He also noticed that a good percentage of their nap time during their stay also included Hibari napping with or at least near them.

He'd spent some time with Hibari meditating and during that time had started to address the realization that he was no longer innocent. His hands had ended a human life and that ate at him in ways he couldn't understand. Instead of leaning too heavily on Reborn, who was still exhausted from the enormous discharge of energy, he turned to Hibari to sort his head and heart out. It surprised him, the way Hibari silently listened to what Tsuna had to say on the subject. There was no advice or sympathy from him, but there was a silent acceptance and willingness to keep him company as he worked his way through it as best as he could.

It was painful, the thought that he was turning into the very idea of what he'd thought the mafia was when Reborn first approached him. He'd always sworn he'd have no part of it, that he'd change the mafia before he ended up with blood on his hands. Now he'd taken human lives, and worse, dragged his closest friends into that world, that taint, with him.

It bothered him, that Hayato and Takeshi seemed so casual about the incident, expressing their happiness over Tsuna's safety and their pride in how well they'd handled the fight. It wasn't until Tsuna started to chafe at their attitude that he started to wonder how different he really was from his friends. He found himself wanting to lash out at them, ask them if they didn't care that there were children without a father out there because of them, wives with no husbands to support them. He was seething with the frustration and anger of it, all fueled by his own overwhelming guilt. That was when Hibari stepped in and as Tsuna would later tell him, saved his soul.

"If a soldier is on the battlefield, Sawada Tsunayoshi," Hibari said casually, "and the enemy is firing on him, do you blame him for shooting back and doing so in such a precise way as to eliminate his enemy?"

Tsuna blinked at him and put some real thought into the question before he answered. "I can't, can I? In a situation like that, you have to value your life over your enemy's."

"Is this any different?" Hibari asked next, giving him a thoughtful look, as though re-evaluating Tsuna now that he'd become more dangerous. "Given the numbers, you would have died if help had not arrived. So you fought for your life, and they lost theirs. It has nothing to do with this crowding you do with the others. They came for you, and you killed them for it."

As disturbing as it was when put into words like that, it did loosen some of the emotional knot Tsuna had tied himself up in. "Do they feel that way too? Takeshi and Hayato?"

"Who knows?" Hibari shrugged the question off. "Life is life, death is death. There's no point in crying over your enemies, Sawada Tsunayoshi."

"Tsuna," Tsuna said, glancing over at him. "You're too formal after all this time. You should call me Tsuna."

"I refuse to use that ridiculous nickname of yours," Hibari told him bluntly.

Tsuna had to laugh at that. "Well what about something less formal, maybe limited to one name?"

Hibari looked at him thoughtfully for a long moment before shrugging one shoulder lazily. "Tsunayoshi, then."

Grinning at him, Tsuna reached out impishly and touched Hibari's cheek. "Much better, Kyoya."

He was running before the other boy could fully process that and respond, but the rush of footsteps behind him told him his instinctive urge to flee had been a good one. It didn't mean he wouldn't use the name again, however, because he'd seen the slight blush spread across those cheeks before he'd run. He achieved physical safety from his pursuer in the end by scooping up a napping Reborn and holding him up like a shield, which distracted Kyoya enough to save Tsuna's life. It was unfortunate that it also woke Reborn, who took on the task of beating Tsuna, although lightly, for his insolence in waking him.

Returning home was easier than he'd thought it would be. As far as his mother and the kids knew, he'd simply chosen to sleep over at Kyoya's for a few nights as part of a school study party, something he knew the other boy would huff over, if he ever heard about it. Still, it was nice to return to the more innocent part of his Family and bask in the hugs and snuggling from the kids and the kiss and hug from his mother. It reminded him of why he'd been making so many hard decisions lately and reassured him that while his soul might be a little less pure now, his heart was still strong and good.

After the incident on the road home from Kokuyo, Tsuna had less trouble than he would have had otherwise expected in convincing his Family that he could meet with Xanxus alone, but it still wasn't easy. It was one of the few times Tsuna had to put his foot down firmly as the boss. There were things he needed to talk to Xanxus about that were no one else's business. When he decided to be firm, he went to Reborn, finding him sitting outside the house and enjoying the yard in the fall sunshine.

"Reborn, I need to talk to you," Tsuna said, closing the door behind him and settling down next to him on the porch. "I need you to listen and understand, and not get pissed off."

"It pisses me off to have a conversation that starts with someone saying I shouldn't get pissed off," Reborn said, turning to look at him with a dark look in his eyes, "especially when I'm still pissed off in general, Tsuna."

"Would you be happier if I let you pee on me or something to mark territory?" Tsuna asked, shaking his head slightly. "Didn't we clear this up after the fight, Reborn? Would you be happier if I ignored everyone else and hurt them by pushing them away when they need me so much?"

Tsuna slipped off the porch to sit at Reborn's feet submissively. Reborn was always calmer when Tsuna was willing to submit somewhat, especially when he already had a reason to be irate with Tsuna. It also let him look up at Reborn and read him better.

"You and I have a connection I will never have with anyone else. It doesn't matter what size you are, or how much you bully me. I'm not going to dive off the deep end and fall in love with any of my Guardians, or anyone else."

"Hmm…" Reborn's sigh sounded less like a growl this time than the last several he'd heard through the past couple of days, so Tsuna took a chance and held his hand out to Reborn, leaving it next to him, palm up, on the porch. The small hand that eventually laid itself over his reassured him immensely. "What did you want to talk about, Tsuna?"

"Losing my virginity," Tsuna said, turning a lovely shade of red as he did. Still, it was better and far less painful to say it straightforwardly than to have to try to dodge around the subject with a sadistic Reborn. "You can see where I'm a bit worried about your temper in this situation."

"Damned straight you should be," Reborn was growling again, but Tsuna gently squeezed his hand and rested a cheek on the warm wood of the porch next to Reborn's leg. "If you think for one minute I'm going to let one of those puppies do anything like that to you, you're out of your damned mind. As clumsy as they can be, you'll end up crippled or something. Or even worse, you'll end up afraid of sex for life."

"I wasn't thinking about going to one of them for this particular issue," Tsuna told him, agreeing completely with most of that. He loved his friends, but they were all extremely strong, extremely eager and still had a hell of a lot to learn about self-control, no matter what they were doing with each other. He wasn't about to let any of them near his ass until he'd had some experience with all of this.

"If I had my choice, I'd want you to do it," Tsuna squeezed his hand again, pleased to feel Reborn's hand stroke his palm. "But there's no timeline yet for Verde's research. Worse, there's been infighting and betting about the whole sex thing amongst the Family. According to Viper, there are all kinds of odds on different Guardians and friends at this point. Now everyone's making it a competition. I feel like a trophy or something, and to be honest, it's pissing me off."

"That's no good, Tsuna," Reborn looked thoughtful now. "There'll be people who'll try to get you just to win money if that keeps up. Not to mention the brats are getting way too big for their britches in competing with each other for something that belongs to me." His eyes gleamed dangerously for a long moment. "None of it really bodes well for you getting anything good out of it. If you choose one over the others, and that would cause a problem, too."

"You understand, then," Tsuna sighed with relief, his thumb stroking the top of Reborn's hand instinctively. "Honestly, Reborn, if I thought I could, I'd wait as long as I had to. But in the end, this is about sex, not love, and not commitment. It's about learning something physical so that I can calm the Family down again."

"I hate it," Reborn told him quietly, his small body practically vibrating with the emotion of it. "This curse, this situation, I hate all of it, Tsuna. I hate that I have to give you over to someone else and trust them not to hurt you. I hate that…" he paused, his eyes glowing with a deep-seated anger, "I hate that it's not going to be me."

"So do I Reborn, so do I," Tsuna responded, looking up at him dejectedly. "I hate that my body will be fine and my heart won't be. This isn't something I ever wanted to be a purely physical thing, but I need it to be that now."

"Tsuna," Reborn sighed softly and leaned against his head. "Have you decided who you'd like to ask to help you? I'm guessing that's why you brought it up now."

"Yeah, I have. Actually, he's the one who suggested I look for someone like him to do it, which is funny, because I know he's the last person who probably wants to or will be willing to do it," Tsuna cut himself off, realizing he was babbling and shook his head to clear his thoughts. "I'm going to ask Xanxus while he's here. None of the Guardians will go after him and pick a fight, and no one in the Family can really object, since I'm keeping it in the Family. Not to mention he's the least likely person in, well, the world, to get attached."

"Tsuna, you do realize the chance of him trying to beat you to death for even asking is very high, don't you?" Reborn asked, blinking at him in surprise. "He's not exactly the sharing and caring type, you know. Plus, he's not exactly your biggest fan, in any way, shape or form."

"Believe me, I know," Tsuna replied, wincing slightly at what was only the truth, "but on the other hand, he came with you when I called for help, and he didn't have to."

Reborn looked thoughtful at the reminder and went silent for a few long minutes. Rather than rush him, Tsuna let him think and contented himself with the hand in his and the quiet company. Silence was a rare thing these days in the Sawada household, after all.

"You make a good point, Tsuna," Reborn looked at him thoughtfully now. "There was no reason for him to come. That makes me wonder why he would."

"He stuck around, too," Tsuna offered, "to do paperwork and boss people around in ways that don't involve violence."

"I'm fairly sure he's using your resources to arrange something violent, Tsuna," Reborn teased him gently, amused that Tsuna hadn't caught on to that. "A threat to the Family is a threat to the entire Family, and I'm sure this attack pissed him off thoroughly."

"True," Tsuna rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "but he's also handling business for me. I'm getting copies of the emails on my cell phone." He shrugged lightly. "All I can do is ask, Reborn. If he says no, I'll come up with something else or hold a lottery or something."

Reborn thwacked him firmly for that last bit, frowning with disapproval at the idea. "Let me handle this, Tsuna. Viper is still here and sticking close to Xanxus. I might be able to use him to convince Xanxus, or aim him in that direction, at least. Maybe soften the ground a bit. It'll cost, though. That guy doesn't do anything for free."

"I can't believe you're being so understanding about all of this, Reborn," Tsuna looked up at him with curious eyes that held a tinge of sadness in them as well. "I don't know if I could be as understanding, if the situation were reversed."

"I've raised a lot of bosses over the years, Tsuna," Reborn patted Tsuna's hand reassuringly. "There are things you'll have to do that you'll hate, things that will hurt inside and out, and things that will tear you apart, and you do them all to protect the Family. I understand this better than most people ever will. What kind of tutor and what kind of partner would I be, if I lashed out at you over things that can't be controlled? Neither of us has the strength to return me to normal long enough for me to help you with this, and the cow's stupid purple toy isn't reliable enough to guarantee that if I brought my future self here, he'd stay long enough." Tsuna went pale at the mention of Reborn and the bazooka in the same sentence but kept his head tilted towards the sun to hide it. "I've noticed the infighting as well. So we'll handle it the best way we can."

Tsuna squeezed Reborn's hand gratefully and went silent after that, cheek resting on the sun-warmed wood of the porch next to Reborn's leg. He heard Reborn call Viper but tuned out the words, focusing instead on enjoying the lingering warmth of the day. It helped that Reborn was here with him and that the tiny hand never left his as they sat together for the rest of the afternoon.

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*Title translates to "fortune favors the bold".


	34. Chapter XXVII: Hic sunt leones

**Chapter XXVII: Hic sunt leones (Training Canyon / Namimori / Current Day) **

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**A/N:** This chapter contains explicit sex between two men, specifically Xanxus and Tsuna. If you don't like to read about sex, or you don't like that pairing, feel free to skip ahead. While there is no significant plot in this story, there is a lot of foundation laid here for the future relationship between Tsuna and Xanxus that will let them work together. I leave it to you, the reader, to decide whether to read it or not. As the author, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

As always, thanks to Ai-chan and thi-hoai, for inspiring and correcting me, they way good friends should when helping you create something you love.

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It began as a sparring session to allow the both of them to blow off steam before Xanxus returned to Italy to better supervise his team as they carried out the orders Tsuna had given him before the assassination attempt. Viper had arranged it with Reborn over the phone and Tsuna had accepted enthusiastically. He wanted to test how far the skills he'd learned in the future would take him against the Xanxus of the present. They'd even set down rules of combat and everything, to keep either one of them from going too far.

Tsuna noticed when he arrived, armed and ready for a good fight, that it was just the two of them, Reborn and Viper in the canyon. He couldn't fault the security of the situation. You'd have to bring a small army to have a chance of getting past the three of them to get anywhere near Tsuna. He also wasn't surprised when the two Arcobaleno left them in the canyon and retreated towards the top for a better view from which to watch them brawl. Reborn always enjoyed watching Tsuna fight and Tsuna was sure it helped him decide what the next training steps would be.

What did surprise him was the look Xanxus was giving him, as though he was trying to break down the core components of what made Tsuna who he was, and then figure each of those out. It was unnerving but not offensive, so Tsuna chose to ignore it for now, letting him do as he pleased. Some part of him wondered at the results of Reborn's conversation with Viper but he knew that he'd die of embarrassment before actually being able to ask anyone but Reborn about it. Asking Reborn had its own dangers and so he'd avoided the subject completely over the past couple of days.

The sparring session was incredible. Now that he was no longer afraid of his own strength, although he still didn't fully comprehend the depths of it, he fought aggressively and with a real passion. He was learning over time why people like Reborn and the Varia took such pleasure in their skill and were also so passionate about their particular talents. Something inside him wanted to prove himself to the man who had mocked him so painfully when he was younger and so much more timid. He wanted to show that he did deserve the title of Vongola Decimo, something he'd never cared enough about proving in the past. Now, however, it seemed vital to him.

When Xanxus continued to push him, attacking mercilessly in an obvious attempt to test Tsuna's strength, he gave in to the moment and opened his box weapon, something he hadn't done much of since returning to his own time. This time period didn't have the kind of conflicts that required weapons like these. He liked the appreciative glint in Xanxus' eye at the sight of the little lion cub. Then he felt his own eyes widen as he finally noticed the new Varia ring on Xanxus' hand as it flamed while opening a box he hadn't realized Xanxus had already acquired.

"Fuck," he swore and pulled back slightly, not really wanting to be in range of that enormous cat of his. He'd heard in the future what it had done in various fights and while he knew that he'd gotten stronger, he really didn't want to test himself against Xanxus and his box weapon yet. "Where the hell did you get that, Xanxus?"

As he sunk to the ground again, baby lion sitting on his shoulder, Xanxus followed, landing near him. "It's interesting, brat. It's one of the first things Verde has produced. He mentioned something about you giving him the specifications for it, down to the finest detail. I didn't know that you had a fucking clue about his research into these weapons until you had us take him."

Tsuna flailed for a moment about what to say before realizing that of all the people he knew that didn't know about the future, the ones here with him now were the ones who had some inkling into what he knew. Reborn had his suspicions and knew what Tsuna had been willing to share, as little as that was. Viper had been inside Verde's head with Mukuro, so it was likely he'd seen more than he was admitting to. As for Xanxus, he was the most dangerous weapon in Tsuna's arsenal right now and he was sending him out to kill. That alone required a certain amount of trust on Tsuna's part. The truth was that Xanxus' cooperation was something that could make or break Tsuna's leadership of the Family.

"I've seen it before," Tsuna said, sighing softly, "but not here and not now." He knelt in front of the big cat to look him over curiously. "He's amazing though, isn't he?" He chuckled as the big cat took a sniff at the little one on his shoulder. "He fits with you, right?"

Xanxus nodded his agreement to the question and then glanced up, eyes drifting around the ridges of the canyon walls above them before nodding again. His hand dropped onto the big cat's head, stroking slightly. "Go keep watch. Take the little one with you."

Blinking in surprise, Tsuna watched the large cat huff at his little lion cub and the two bound off together up to the ridges. Glancing up, he scanned the skyline and realized that both Viper and Reborn were gone. They'd left at some point during the fight. Realizing now that this meeting had more than one purpose, and cursing himself for being so slow, Tsuna flushed bright red and stared silently at Xanxus.

"When I mentioned finding someone that your fluffy bitches couldn't mess with, brat, I didn't mean me," Xanxus said, looking down at him thoughtfully. "I can't figure out if you're suicidal, masochistic or just really stupid."

"I'm pretty sure Reborn asks the same question about me regularly." Tsuna rubbed the back of his head ruefully, staring at the ground now. "Nice rocks they have around here." He had absolutely no idea how to handle a situation like this. There was one thing he thought was important to express though, and he glanced back up, catching Xanxus' eyes.

"I trust you. You need to know that." It was the truth. Ever since he'd realized the motives of Xanxus in the future and then through his dealings with him in the current time, he'd realized that what Xanxus cared the most about was the welfare of the Family itself.

Xanxus blinked at him in slight surprise. "You shouldn't. I'm just as likely to kill you here as fuck you, you know."

"No, I don't think you will." Tsuna took a step closer to him, refusing to be afraid. Embarrassed, fuck yes; he was absolutely humiliated about having to ask someone who hated him to do this, but he wasn't afraid. "I'm sorry to ask you for something like this. I feel like I'm asking you to whore yourself out or something. Asking you to fight is different than asking you to do something like this." Humiliating was the word he finally chose to describe the situation of having to convince someone to have sex with him for purely political purposes.

"You're an idiot," Xanxus told him bluntly, but reached out lightning-fast with one hand and tugged Tsuna against him. "This isn't about romance, or friendship, or anything like that, Sawada Tsunayoshi. Let's be clear about that. I'm doing you a favor."

"I know," Tsuna answered, turning red again.

He would have apologized once more except that there was a mouth slanted over his and a hand fisted in his hair to hold him in place in case he tried to run for it. Tsuna, on the other hand, had no intention of running even before his brain did a slow melt over the fire in that kiss. If he had a scale to rank kisses, Reborn's would be so far off the top of the chart that any competition would be left in the dust. Xanxus, however, somehow managed to come in a close second.

It was hot, scorching hot, against his mouth and he felt his own body heat up in response, almost like the flame in Xanxus was calling his own. It was something he'd never felt before and some small part of his brain managed to muse over the idea that the harmonizing nature of their flames was what caused that heat. Then there was a tongue sliding against his lips and he opened them instinctively for Xanxus and then his ability to think at any level short-circuited.

There was a moment where Tsuna's focus blurred and reality faded into the heat of the kiss, and then Tsuna was pinned against a canyon wall, his mouth tilted up eagerly as Xanxus's tongue practically fucked its way into it. It wasn't as if he was protesting the invasion, either. In fact, the whimpering, pleading sounds he was making definitely were more along the lines of encouragement. Xanxus tasted dangerous and wild on Tsuna's tongue and it was doing wicked things to his cock which had very quickly started protesting the constraints of his pants.

"Fuck," Xanxus panted, breaking the kiss. "How many times have I told you that you're just begging for it, you fucking brat?" His hands were moving roughly over Tsuna's body and clothing fell away as they did. His t-shirt vanished over his head while Tsuna was still licking his lips after the kiss, leaving him half-naked and pressed against rock. His jeans and boxers followed, tossed aside somewhere along with his shoes and socks, all ripped off him in one big wave of movement.

Xanxus was a force of nature, Tsuna thought, although he wasn't protesting in the least. After all, he'd brought this on himself, and even asked for it. Now he was pretty sure he would have begged for it if Xanxus had insisted. What was important, however, was that Xanxus had agreed.

"This is your last chance to change your mind," Xanxus growled, pacing back a few steps to look him over. "I wouldn't blame you if you tried to run."

"I won't run from you," Tsuna replied, shaking his head slowly and meeting Xanxus's eyes willingly enough. "It has to be you. You're the only person I trust enough to do this who won't expect anything afterwards and who's strong enough that they won't go after you when it gets out."

"Damned right. Last thing I need is anyone thinking I've gone soft for a shitty brat like you," Xanxus muttered, before reaching out and turning Tsuna to face the rock face behind him. "And there's no way those fucking pussies of yours would ever have the balls to even glare at me about it."

Satisfied, Xanxus sank to his knees behind Tsuna and wrapped his hands around the boy's hips tightly. Tsuna had a blank moment of worry when he wondered what Xanxus was getting ready to do. Was he just going to do it? Xanxus was rough, but Tsuna had just seen examples of his kindness with his box weapon. What he didn't know was whether Xanxus would use this chance to take the past out on him in some embarrassing way or not.

Tsuna tensed all over for a moment at the thought, and then shook his head and forced himself to relax. This wasn't just about sex, this was about trust. He had to put his trust in the other man to not choose to hurt him, and as he made his decision, his body reflected it. His nerves settled further when those hands slid down and spread his cheeks, exposing him to Xanxus in an unexpectedly gentle way.

Now he blushed and leaned against the rock wall, his face buried against one arm, afraid to look back. Or at least he was until he felt a rough, hot tongue slide between his cheeks. He moaned then, hips tilting up approvingly. No one had ever done anything like that to him before and he was slightly pissed at them all because it felt damned good.

"Xanxus," Tsuna bit his bottom lip and tilted his hips up and back slightly. "I didn't expect…" He wasn't sure how to express that he hadn't been expecting the older man to be anything other than himself with Tsuna, or push himself to make this easy in any way.

"Shut up," Xanxus replied bluntly, teeth sinking in to one of Tsuna's cheeks sharply. "As long as we're doing this, I might as well prove a point to that fucking guard dog of yours." He chuckled darkly and licked the bite slowly, soothing it before resuming his task, his tongue teasing at Tsuna.

Planning to question Xanxus about that comment, Tsuna turned his head slightly only to wail softly when that hot tongue pressed into him, stopping his thinking sharply in favor of the heat curling in his stomach. At that point, he couldn't give a damn what Xanxus and Reborn had talked about as long as Xanxus kept doing that. The rough, calloused hand that wrapped around his cock tightly, touching but not stroking, only added fuel to the fire and he gave up on speaking completely, resorting to soft moans and the random whimper when the tongue pressed deeply into him.

He wasn't quite sure when that tongue stopped and a slick finger replaced it until it pressed deeper into him than that wet heat had been going. The whimper this time wasn't entirely of pleasure as he tightened down instinctively, making the intrusion sharper and less comfortable. That was when the rough hand on his cock started to move, stroking over him slowly, distracting him from the discomfort. Tsuna gasped and then he could feel his hips tilting up slightly, trying to help his body adjust. He was holding his own and managing not to cry like a girl when Xanxus' finger brushed over something deep inside him that drew a moan from deep in his throat and arched his back with the shocked pleasure of it.

"Listen up, shrimp," Xanxus said as he released Tsuna's cock now that he'd changed Tsuna's point of view on the whole finger-up-the-ass thing. "Your watchdog made sure I'd teach you well, so fucking pay attention. If you ever do this to a guy, or hell, a girl, without something to ease the way, they're going to punch you in the face, because it'll hurt like hell." He paused thoughtfully for a moment. "Unless they really like pain. Do us all a favor and don't fuck around with those types."

"A-always use something slippery," Tsuna panted against his arm, nodding obediently. "Got it." It certainly helped the process here, and he could feel something slick and slippery on Xanxus' fingers as he pressed a second one into him.

"FUCK!" Tsuna cried out, biting his arm to try to hold back the shocked moan that would have followed. There was a tight, stretching burn that had him clenching down on those fingers. "It-it's…" he couldn't quite get the words out.

"Here's the next rule," Xanxus said, teeth nipping sharply at each cheek of Tsuna's ass, hard enough to mark him. "What I'm doing now? You do this before you fuck anyone. You've got some growing to do still but you've got enough between your legs to hurt someone if you don't loosen them up first." Chuckling, he ran his tongue up Tsuna's spine, standing behind him now as he fucked him with his fingers. "Same thing for anyone wanting in that tight ass of yours; no slick it and slam it in until you've gotten a few years of this under your belt or you'll be wearing diapers."

"G-got it," Tsuna whimpered, not sure when he'd started shifting his hips back in time with Xanxus' hand but not unhappy about it because it brought those slight grazes against that spot deep inside him that made his eyes flash white and his body burn, especially as a third finger slid into him. He'd gone from embarrassed and nervous to a panting, moaning mess of a teenage boy.

"Good." Xanxus continued fucking him slowly with his fingers, teeth grazing over the nape of Tsuna's neck. "Another rule, shrimp. If you're fucking anyone you don't know is clean, fucking wear a condom or your dick'll fall off eventually."

Tsuna blushed and turned slightly at that, his head angling to meet Xanxus' eyes. "I would never do this with someone I didn't trust." He paused, hips driving back on Xanxus' fingers and moaning again roughly. "And I'm not a shrimp."

"As long as I have to bend my knees to fuck you standing up, brat, you'll be a shrimp," Xanxus chuckled and slid his fingers out slowly, laughing again as Tsuna whined at the loss. "Next rule, know what you're getting into, or in this case what you're getting in you." There was a clink as Xanxus opened his own belt and the sound of a zipper and then Xanxus' hand was on Tsuna's, pulling it behind him.

When his hand wrapped around something hot and hard, Tsuna turned red again, but some part of him reveled in the feel and he moaned softly as he slid his hand over Xanxus' cock. The sound faded, however, as he stroked slowly and realized there was a lot more there than he was used to with his friends, a lot more, actually. There was enough to make him nervous and eager all at once.

"Y-you're big," Tsuna forced himself to say, knowing there was a point to the rule. "You could hurt me, if you aren't careful."

"Exactly," Xanxus rewarded him with another nip, his hot tongue laving the mark afterwards. "But I agreed to behave today, so trust me when I say you'll enjoy this." His hand joined Tsuna's again, and it was slippery, forcing Tsuna to stroke him and prepare him all at once. "Are you ready for this?"

Tsuna nodded and quickly found himself pinned against the canyon wall by the large, dangerous body pressed flush against his, his hands held tightly over his head by one large hand. Before he could even protest or struggle, Xanxus was pressing into him slowly. Tsuna wailed instead of protesting then, hips lifting and tilting up to take him in. It was painfully tight and he could feel himself stretching to accommodate the scorching heat pressing into him.

The soft swearing against his neck combined with the slight tremor in the arm pinning his hands told Tsuna how much self-control was involved in the slow, calm way Xanxus pressed himself into him. It was a compassionate gesture that touched Tsuna deeply, coming from a man he'd taken so much from, even without meaning to. So he gave back the only way he could think of, by submitting to and embracing what Xanxus was offering. Xanxus' name fell from his mouth as he whimpered and moaned, body straining back to take more of him in, even as a strong hand grasped his hip tightly enough to bruise, holding him in place.

"Patience, Tsunayoshi," Xanxus whispered into his ear. "Push me too far and I won't care what I agreed to. I'll take you until you can't walk straight for weeks." Teeth grazed over Tsuna's earlobe. "Now take a slow, deep breath, and relax when you let it out, and I'll give you everything you want right now."

Obeying him, Tsuna pulled in a deep breath and as he let it out again, relaxing his body, Xanxus pressed forward fully, burying himself in Tsuna's body. His chest seized as Xanxus' cock brushed over that spot inside him that his fingers had touched earlier, but this time in a long, slow, tight stroke along it. Fighting for breath, he clenched down tightly on Xanxus, and when he finally found air, his moan echoed the rough one that slipped from the older man.

"Fuck, but you're hot for this, aren't you?" Xanxus muttered against his ear, the hand on Tsuna's hip sliding around to stroke over his stomach in an almost soothing manner. "You're practically pulling me in."

"Please!" Tsuna couldn't think, couldn't figure out how to express what he needed and couldn't gather enough air to express it, even if he could.

Xanxus seemed to understand, however, because in another long moment he had pulled back and then surged into him deeply again and Tsuna wailed. He could feel Xanxus tremble, almost more of a long shudder of his body, and then all Tsuna could feel was thrust after deep, hard thrust as the hand holding his wrists tightened almost painfully. It hurt and it felt good all at once and all Tsuna could do was cry out roughly with each thrust, head falling back onto Xanxus' shoulder as he cried out his pleasure and pain, much to Xanxus' delight.

He was lost then, blown away by the rhythm and depth of it and all he could do was move with the larger man as his body struggled and then learned. It seemed like it had been an instant and an eternity all at once when Xanxus' hand left Tsuna's stomach and wrapped around his cock tightly, stroking him roughly as sharp teeth sank into the join of his neck and shoulder hard enough to bruise deeply. The combination of searing pleasure and piercing pain drove him over the edge and he sobbed as he spilled over Xanxus' hand, body clenching down on him tightly, trying to hold him in place and draw out the moment.

It was clear Xanxus had other ideas, however, and he heard him growl as he pulled out, his hand leaving Tsuna's cock. Confused, Tsuna turned his head slightly, dazed, trying to understand and then he heard a slick stroking sound and a rough groan from Xanxus and then hot liquid coated his ass and lower back in sticky waves. Tsuna blushed deeply and the realization of what had just happened and the blood rush combined with the sensory overload he'd already been struggling with was just too much. He blacked out and pitched backwards into Xanxus' arms as the older man swore and reached for him, barely catching him.

When he woke again he was clean, naked and tucked into a bed he didn't recognize. He was face down on the pillow and his hips were in the air, his knees holding him up. He was also hard again and moaning as a rough hand stroked over his body while slick fingers pressed into him. Tsuna couldn't think, couldn't focus enough to wonder where he was as Xanxus realized Tsuna's eyes were open, chuckled and replaced his fingers with that large cock.

It happened over and over again that afternoon and evening and Tsuna lost all track of time, his world narrowing down to revolve solely around the cock inside him and the man who was making him beg and moan so shamelessly. He'd never expected this kind of treatment from Xanxus but he reveled in the passion and power of it. This was arousal, passion and sex with someone who didn't need Tsuna, who wasn't using him to heal some inner wound. It was purely physical and that, in its own way was what made it so damned good.

Later that night, Reborn slipped into the bedroom Xanxus had claimed in Dino's apartment, only to find him watching television while Tsuna was tucked into the bed next to him snugly, his face resting on Xanxus's thigh as he slept. He noted Xanxus's hand on Tsuna's head, stroking his hair lazily.

Their eyes met and Xanxus nodded a slightly smug greeting to him, clearly not the least bothered by his presence in the room and fully aware that the Arcobaleno hadn't been as vanished as he'd made it seem during the afternoon's events. But then, he'd been convinced to do something and Xanxus had a firm policy of upholding the standards of his work. It had helped that the boy was so damned responsive and giving. In the end, Xanxus hadn't been sure which of them had benefited the most. While Xanxus had his own array of lovers, much like Tsuna's, he also had to deal with the stark emotional need of each of them that was buried under their mannerisms. It had been good to just be able to cut loose and enjoy fucking for the sake of fucking for once.

"Tsuna had to convince me that this was a good idea. He had to do some really fast talking. I have to agree it was a wise if somewhat dangerous choice, but he argued for you adamantly." Reborn hopped up onto the bed and claiming the pillow Tsuna was neglecting in his sleep. "How did it go?"

"As if you don't know already," Xanxus replied, yawning and stretching slightly. "You'd be a complete idiot to leave him alone with someone like me in a place like that. Did you enjoy the show?" He'd particularly enjoyed spilling over the kid's skin, marking him in his own way.

"You came close to losing a kidney," Reborn told him, a soft growl in his voice. "But Tsuna made me promise to not interrupt." Reborn glanced at Xanxus thoughtfully as Leon hopped off the brim of his hat and traipsed over the bedclothes to explore Tsuna's sleeping body. "Did he convince you of the benefits of cooperating with and supporting him?"

"Was that the final goal?" Xanxus asked, snorting in smug amusement before taking a long sip from his wineglass. "What I was asked for was a lesson. I was kind enough to give it to him well enough to make sure he remembered it. I gave him a few good refresher lessons, too."

"Taking him home with you wasn't in the agreement," Reborn said, looking at him darkly.

"Would you be happier if I'd left him naked and sticky on the ground and gone home?" Xanxus asked, snorting lightly as he scanned the local news headlines on the screen. "The deal was to teach him, not break him. Once I had him here, I got bored and decided to entertain myself. That's all. It's not like I'm interested in keeping him."

Reborn simply chuckled as Leon returned to him, reporting on Tsuna's condition. He'd worried when he'd watched Tsuna faint, and he'd struggled through the decision to leave Tsuna's care in Xanxus' hands. The two had such a volatile history between them, after all. He'd watched intently as Xanxus bundled Tsuna up, collected the big cats back into their boxes and carried Tsuna back to the waiting car before taking him back to a safe place. He'd been sitting silently outside the bedroom window for hours, torturing himself with the sounds coming from inside. Now that he was satisfied that Tsuna was unharmed as well, Reborn relaxed against the headboard.

"Rokudo Mukuro is fully convinced that Tsuna's really an incubus of some sort," he said, smirking. "You should be careful, Xanxus. He might snare you too. He has a way about him that influences the people around him."

Xanxus snorted, but his hand kept stroking through Tsuna's hair almost as though he didn't realize he was doing it. "I can see where those brats might find him tempting, but I've got a whole houseful of good, easy fucks. I don't need one that'll lecture me, too."

"He'll probably apologize to you for using you like this," Reborn said thoughtfully, watching as Leon stretched out and stole a wineglass and filled it for him. The stare Xanxus gave him, he nodded to himself, knowing he'd been right. "Knowing him, he'd have had a hard time believing you'd do this for any other reason than the good of the Family."

"He's got an ass made for cock," Xanxus informed Reborn in an amused tone before setting his own glass down to flip channels in search of the international news. "He'll figure that out when I take it again the next time we meet."

"What convinced you to agree to his request?" Reborn asked, curious and determined to ignore Xanxus' confidence in Tsuna's willingness to repeat the experience, as much as it made him want to rip the boy's tongue out of his head.

"Probably the fact that our floating purple powder puff stopped me before I left to meet you two, to discuss it with me. The whole sparring session had been scheduled before he brought up the rest of it. Viper said you two had been feeling him out about it and how to approach it." Xanxus paused to pour himself another glass of wine. "He told me that if I agreed to what you two were proposing, I'd also be well advised to be responsible about it. I think he's growing attached to the little brat."

They both went silent for a few minutes when Tsuna shifted in his sleep, rubbing his cheek against Xanxus's thigh and slipping an arm around his waist. Xanxus growled softly but didn't remove it, instead sliding a hand down Tsuna's spine, quieting him. It bothered him that this kid who'd just ordered the deaths of several people all at once could look so innocent in his sleep, but no matter how hard he'd tried all evening he couldn't bring himself to throw him out. It was driving him nuts, because while he could nap lightly in any situation, true sleep was fleeting for Xanxus and never happened with anyone else in the same room.

"This kid of yours is playing a dangerous game, Arcobaleno," Xanxus said, frowning. "Keep him close and keep a damned good eye on him. The Vongola can't afford to lose our heir right now, as ridiculously weak as he may be."

"He's given you more assignments, then," Reborn said, before holding up a hand to stop Xanxus from answering. "I'd be a poor tutor if I couldn't trust in him to make the right choices by now. If he wanted my input he would have asked. You don't need to tell me anything you don't think I need to know. I can tell he's trying to protect me from something."

"Yeah, so can I. Grow the hell back up, you puny bastard. The damn brat needs someone to hold his leash in more ways than just teaching him to be a boss. He's got to grow into the kind of monster that can run a Family like ours." He paused, eyes locked on the boy who was wrapped around him. "And don't be such a fucking idiot. You keep letting guys like me at him and you may not get him back in one piece, or at all." Xanxus set aside his wineglass in favor of resuming his lazy fondling of Tsuna's body, contemplating another round before making the Arcobaleno take his charge home.

"Who do you think I am, Xanxus? No one will take him from me and live," Reborn said, standing up to go, his wine finished. "I'll put up with some things to allow him to grow into himself, but don't make any mistakes. He's mine. He always has been and he always will be." A shift in the lighting stretched his shadow out across the floor into something far darker and more dangerous. "He won me over the day he told you he'd never let you succeed the Ninth."

Dangerous became ominous for a moment. "When the time comes, I'll claim what's mine."

Xanxus nodded his approval silently on that subject. He, of all people, knew what emotional imbalance could do to a warrior and he knew the Arcobaleno danced a fine line of madness. If the boss he would have to follow was attached to this little monster, then he would make sure that Tsuna grew up into an appropriately strong monster so that he could stand his ground next to Reborn. After all, a Vongola boss bowed to no one, not even God.

"Good." Xanxus paused and stroked Tsuna's hair again slowly, "He can stay here tonight. I'd bet my balls you need time to deal with this before you're alone with him again." It was a concession, and would be a rare one between them in regards to Tsuna.

"Are you sure?" Reborn was well aware of how poorly Xanxus slept. "I can take him now, wake him up and make him come with me."

"No, leave him." Xanxus sighed softly. "He can return to reality in the morning. I'll watch over him tonight while you heal."

Reborn nodded his gratitude and in a dark flash was gone into the night. Sighing again, Xanxus slid down into the bed slightly, one arm curling around Tsuna as he resettled the boy over his chest. As he watched the news, he basked in the warmth next to him, never once even considering how much he enjoyed it.

* * *

*Title translates to "here there are lions".


	35. Interlude VII: Vacca foeda

**Interlude VII: Vacca foeda (Vongola Estate / Venice, Italy / Ten Years Future)**

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**A/N:** I've always wanted to do an Interlude focused on Lambo and the process of raising him into an adult hit man. So here it is for you to enjoy. There were so many things I wanted to address, like why he goes around with the one eye closed, why the hysterically funny versions of himself popping up in the past, and so on.

As always, thanks to Ai-chan and thi_hoai for inspiring me and beta reading! This is a NC-17 chapter, with mentions of Tsuna/Lambo and Hibari/Lambo, as well as Futa/Lambo. I hope you enjoy it!

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Lambo had always been the baby of Tsuna's Family. From the day he'd cried in Tsuna's room while introducing himself, Tsuna had always had a soft spot in his heart for the destructive little brat, no matter how much he would have denied it at the time. The way Lambo would cling to him and cried hit him hard, even when he knew he was being manipulated by the baby. It was probably why Lambo clung to him so tightly when he was little. Tsuna's memories were littered with hundreds, maybe thousands of incidents where Lambo would run to him to beg for candy, a favor, protection, and late at night when no one else could see, for comfort.

By the time Lambo started to outgrow his baby phase, a part of Tsuna was beyond relieved and another part was unexpectedly sad. Whatever dreams he might have of the future and having kids, Lambo was the first true baby Tsuna had helped to raise, in so many different ways. It was a combination of parental love and older sibling affection, he figured out after a while. While Lambo might run to the girls or Tsuna's mom for many things, his reliance on Tsuna for the rest was clear. Having Lambo start to outgrow some of that dependence had hurt just a little. Then he realized that there were other things that Lambo needed him for, always would need him for, and he pushed past the sting of having him grow up to focus on what was still to come.

When Lambo's first day of school came around, he was fine when Nana had dropped him off, but within an hour he'd escaped the scary new place and snuck his way into Tsuna's classroom and was clinging to his leg, tears in his eyes. It had taken three of them to get him detached long enough to hear his explanation for fleeing his new school, most of which consisted of his dislike of people who aren't Family. For the first week, every day Tsuna had to scoop Lambo up and take him back to his own school and his own classroom and apologize to Lambo's teacher, bowing over and over again. It was embarrassing, but Lambo was family and Family, after all. It wasn't his fault he was too young for what they had to ask of him.

When he'd gone to Italy for the first time, he'd been prepared to face down the head of the Bovino Family with the intention of keeping Lambo, outraged at the neglect he thought the boy had been subjected to. Finding out more about Lambo's past had softened him even more to the boy and he'd become more and more willing to indulge Lambo by spending time with him. After all, Lambo had chosen to stay with them, and Family was Family, whether born or chosen.

Twice in his life now, he'd had to leave Lambo behind. The first happened when he'd moved out of his mother's house for the safety of the children and his mother. Lambo had cried for days, refused to go to bed at night, refused to do his homework and more, all while steadfastly denying that he missed Tsuna at all. When Tsuna came by to visit, Lambo would ignore him with a little huff and turn of his head, refusing to even look at him. It had taken two weeks for Tsuna to get his first hug after moving, and another two before Lambo agreed to spend the night with his Tsuna-nii on a weekend. He'd had no idea the boy could hold out like that, and it had crushed Tsuna to hurt him so much, all while taking steps to keep him safe.

The second time came when Tsuna finished high school and had to prepare to move to Italy. He'd had to make the painful decision about what to do with Futa, who was happy in his school but getting ready to graduate, and his two youngest Family members, who weren't even quite ready for middle school yet. Should he take them with him and force them to adapt again to a new home, this time without his mother there to care for them? Or was it better to leave them in Japan, where he couldn't protect them as thoroughly, but where they'd be happier and be able to enjoy a bit more of their childhood?

It was the first time he'd seriously asked Futa to rank something for him. He'd needed to know the risks of both before deciding. Tsuna wanted to know the risks, not only to their personal safety, but the potential risk of damage to their relationships in the long term, both in taking them away from his mother and leaving them behind with her. When he had the rankings, he talked for hours and then days with Reborn about the right choice, both of them struggling with it.

In the end, Tsuna had chosen a compromise. Futa went with them and the children stayed with his mother, but each of them gained a new high-end laptop set up with the most secure and efficient communication streams that Shouichi and Spanner could come up with, and the kids were taught how to use them. When holidays came, the Family private jet arrived to pick them up and they spent their holidays in the balmy sun and sometimes sweltering heat of Italy with Tsuna, Futa and the rest of their Family.

It had crushed Lambo brutally when Futa had left as well as Tsuna, but both made concerted efforts to talk to him every day, at least for a few minutes. They practiced his Italian with him so he wouldn't lose it, living in Japan, and they showed him everything they'd done during the day before calling him. It helped, and it also broadened Lambo's view of the world.

When Lambo finished middle school, he'd calmly hugged his Mama and told her gently that he wanted to go to high school in Italy like Futa-nii, and be with his Tsuna-nii. He told her first, knowing that if she agreed, there was no way Tsuna could argue with him over it. It had worked, and in a week he was packed to go. Tsuna had worried that Lambo would miss I-pin, who had chosen to stay behind with Nana, but Lambo had simply pointed out that he could call I-pin like they'd been calling him all these years.

It had surprised Tsuna then, how easily Lambo had settled into the new household in Italy. He had flashbacks to the Lambo that would appear when the bazooka was used, back when they were children, and he wondered now where that childish, odd and sometimes ridiculous Lambo had gone. He saw hints of it here and there, of course. A crybaby doesn't grow up completely in a few years, after all. More often than not, however, Lambo was silly but not ridiculous. Instead, he focused on his friends and school, caring less and less about proving himself and more about simply fulfilling his role in the Family.

The realization that this Lambo was different really came around Tsuna's twenty-third birthday. It was the last time that Tsuna ever saw Lambo's beautifully green right eye in its pristine condition. He remembered later that he'd always wondered why the Lambo from the future continually wandered around with one eye closed. Now he knew.

They'd been too careless then, his friends renting out a restaurant to celebrate Tsuna's birthday, thinking nothing of the risk of it. Not enough of a security check had been performed because they'd been more focused on making sure everyone was in town at the same time to attend the party. There was an attack, and while their enemies were weak, the shattering of the front window of the restaurant had sent glass flying everywhere. It wasn't until the end of the fight that Tsuna had found Lambo bleeding from his right eye, hand clamped tightly over it, while helping the others fight the enemy off.

Verde and Shamal had been able to save Lambo's eye, but the glass that had sprayed into it had weakened both the eye and the muscles that controlled the eyelid. It was hard for Lambo to keep it open all the time as he had before, and when he did put forth the effort, the strain on his weakened eye took its toll, driving him into brutal headaches. Tsuna had cried while sitting next to Lambo's hospital bed in the clinical wing and waiting for him to wake up.

When Lambo woke up and saw him there, he'd simply informed Tsuna that the look made him more mysterious and dramatic and that girls would love it. He'd seemed so calm and self-assured about it, but later that night when Tsuna had looked in on him, Lambo had been crying silently into his pillow. Rather than trying to find the words to console the teen, Tsuna had simply curled up behind him on the bed and wrapped an arm around him, snuggling him close like he had when Lambo was small and hurt and needed comfort. He stayed like that with him all night and through the next day.

After that, Lambo slowly started to grow and mature. His sense of humor sharpened and now Tsuna had a better idea of how some of the more disturbing older Lambo sightings he'd had as a teenager might have come to happen. Reborn had a wickedly sharp memory and a mental log of each visitation the older Lambo made to the past, specifically the time and place, and Tsuna was sure the two of them were conspiring to keep it interesting. Lambo also spent more time at home, sticking close to Tsuna and a couple of others. Futa was a favorite, coming in a close second to Tsuna. Surprisingly, the Varia's newer addition Fran was also a popular companion.

When Futa started his second year of college and he decided to live in the dormitories because it was more convenient, Tsuna had really believed that Lambo would be all right. He should have remembered how sensitive Lambo really was and how well he hid it under all that bravado. When he returned after dropping Futa off on campus, he'd looked for Lambo and hadn't found him anywhere. Worried, he'd gone back to his rooms to change out of his suit, figuring he'd search the gardens and outlying older buildings next.

He'd found Lambo in his private suite off his office, the sniffling sound of a stifled sob catching him by surprise as he dropped his suit jacket on the chair near the bed. If he had to guess, he'd bet the Lambo had assumed Tsuna would return to the private apartment he kept with Reborn rather than the more public suite he used when Reborn was away. Reborn, however, had stayed with Futa to make additional security arrangements, because the Vongola always protect their own.

When he sat in front of Lambo and tilted the boy's face up, it was absolutely drenched with tears and that was the first time Tsuna realized that Lambo wasn't just growing physically, he was maturing in every way. The pain he saw in those eyes wasn't the same pain he'd seen when they'd left Lambo behind in Japan. It was heartache, the kind of pain Tsuna remembered from the hard days before he'd settled things with Reborn. He'd spent a long moment beating himself up mentally for not noticing that Lambo had fallen in love for the first time and that he'd just helped in breaking Lambo's heart.

So he'd done what he could do. He held him close, hand sliding through that curly, messy hair of his and burying his face against Lambo's neck, encouraging him to do the same. He'd wound his other arm tightly around Lambo's waist and let him settle snugly between his legs, and he'd sat there with him for hours and let him cry himself out. When Lambo was ready to listen, that was when Tsuna spoke.

He spoke for hours, reminding him that feelings you don't share can't always be understood and that love isn't something so fragile as to die over such a small distance. Pointing out that it was likely that Futa would experiment with others in college was hard, but he had to be honest with Lambo. Lying never worked well and he would not betray Lambo's heart like that. But when he saw the tears starting to appear again, Tsuna reminded him that while he was normally the first rush to Lambo's side, Futa was always the second, right there next to Tsuna.

As he dried Lambo's cheeks he also reminded him of how much they all loved his smile and his laughter, especially Futa. Then he pointed out that no matter whether Lambo had confessed or not before he left, they both knew that Futa would be too conscious of the age gap between them right now. That was just how Futa was. He counseled his little brother, the son of his heart in many ways, his Guardian, the boy who was becoming one of his closest friends as he grew up. Finally, he reminded Lambo that they had all the time in the world and that they both knew that Lambo always got what he really wanted, and then he promised to help in any way he could.

The look Lambo gave him as his breathing finally evened out tightened something painfully in Tsuna's chest and he worried that maybe this would be the wound Lambo wouldn't recover from, losing a love because for the first time he hadn't been brave enough to speak up. He waited, fully expecting Lambo to lash out at him for allowing this, to hurt him because Lambo was hurting. Instead, Lambo looked deeply into Tsuna's eyes, his own open eye focusing sharply.

What Lambo did next was something so beyond and outside of anything Tsuna would have expected that he had a long moment of disconnect from reality. When he found his brain and the world around him again, he realized that Lambo was kissing him. He realized then that Lambo had reached out, touched Tsuna's cheek and leaned forward to kiss him.

His first instinct had been to shove the boy away until he realized, clued in by the clumsiness of it, that this had to be Lambo's first kiss. How he'd managed to make it to high school without being kissed confused Tsuna, given the boy's following of female fans, but whatever the reason, Tsuna was not about to ruin this for Lambo. He'd already helped to break Lambo's heart and he wasn't going to reject him now.

So Tsuna kissed Lambo in return, his hand sliding up into Lambo's hair again and tangling there, holding him in place. His other hand lifted and he touched Lambo's face gently, fingers drifting over his cheek carefully, exploring with the softest of touches. When Lambo gasped at the sensation, he took advantage, tongue slipping into Lambo's mouth to stroke and tease. He moved slowly, taking his time and drawing the kiss out into something sweet, loving and painfully arousing.

There had been a painful twang of guilt that tore through his chest when he pulled back, tongue licking along Lambo's bottom lip. He'd tried to apologize, absolutely sure he'd somehow failed in his job as Lambo's protector and loved one, that he'd taken advantage of him. Lambo, however, had smiled sweetly at him, his bright green eyes both open and sparkling, and calmly informed him that it had been Lambo's first kiss and Tsuna-nii had done a very good job at it.

Tsuna had blushed and tried to rationalize all of this, telling Lambo that he was upset over Futa leaving, and that it was all understandable. He'd tried. He really had, right up until Lambo crawled into his lap, straddling his hips. Then his brain had stopped working for a long moment when Lambo wriggled as he settled in. That was when Lambo had cupped both of Tsuna's cheeks and calmly explained to him that if Futa-nii had run off before Lambo had worked up his courage then Tsuna-nii was going to have to take responsibility for teaching Lambo what he wanted to learn next.

From there, things had gone fuzzy for Tsuna. He'd become so used to his Guardians coming to him this way for their own reasons, each relying on him to help heal something in them by allowing them to be this close. It was impossible now to separate Lambo the child from the man he was growing into, who was hurting so badly and was so desperately in need of his attention. So he surrendered to Lambo, pulling him close and rolling both of them to pin him to the bed, focusing entirely on finding some way to heal his pain or at least provide some sort of an emotional tourniquet.

When Reborn returned the following morning and found them, sticky and sweaty and blissfully asleep, he'd laughed until Tsuna woke enough to shut him up with a pillow to the face. Rather than doing what Tsuna had expected, which was to lecture Tsuna on the vulnerabilities of doing something so irresponsible with the baby of the Family, Reborn had shrugged, stripped and curled up behind Tsuna in the bed. It had reassured him, and he'd curled himself more tightly around Lambo, his face pressed to the back of the teen's neck, comforting him even while he was asleep.

What Reborn later and with great amusement termed the "Rise of Lambo" caused a riotous disruption in the daily schedule between Tsuna and his Guardians. Once Lambo had managed to get what he'd wanted, he'd surprisingly stood his ground against the others, demanding his fair share of time with his Tsuna-nii. The older men had tried intimidating him, bullying him and there had even been a few attempts to simply shove him out of Tsuna's office every now and then. What they'd learned then is that all the hours of training the boy had put in with Reborn had paid off over time.

That was also when Tsuna realized how much more aggressively Reborn had been arming Lambo these days. He'd thought the barrettes Lambo kept wearing through middle and high school were adorable, if a bit quirky. He continued to think so right up until Lambo detonated one and blew Hayato out a second story window for trying to bully him. He hadn't had the heart to lecture Lambo over it, but he'd ripped Reborn a good one for an hour or two until Reborn pointed out that they were sending Lambo off-site to school every day with no real protection while on school grounds. Tsuna had relented then, but had demanded to know all the details of what Reborn had been teaching Lambo.

The time issue, however, did reach a point where he thought he'd have to put his foot down with his Guardians. Most of Tsuna's Guardians had problems sharing him with one or the other, with Kyoya of course being one of the worst offenders. It was much to Tsuna's surprise that he found Lambo was the one Guardian Kyoya had decided he'd allow in the same room. He'd actually suggested it, after watching the boy blow Hayato up with a hair accessory.

In fact, Kyoya seemed to take great pleasure in having Lambo reversed under Tsuna, hearing the messy sounds of the younger man sucking Tsuna's cock and seeing Tsuna suck Lambo's while Kyoya fucked Tsuna from behind. Tsuna guessed it was because of the sounds Tsuna made as he was pleasured by the both of them and the quiet willingness of Lambo to do anything to bring pleasure to either of them. Lambo had very quickly grown into an enthusiastic and giving partner, wanting only to be happy and make his partner happy.

Because of that, Tsuna wasn't surprised, a few weeks after the first time this compromise had been reached, to find Kyoya buried balls-deep in Lambo's ass as he bent him over the desk in Lambo's study room and baby office. He could see then what Kyoya found interesting about the younger boy. When Lambo was caught in the rush of hormones he was still learning to understand, he was like an adorable little animal, all big eyes and pleading mixed with moaning and whimpering that brought Tsuna's cock to attention before he'd even looked into the room and found them. Everyone knew Kyoya had a fondness for cute animals that could be useful. Tsuna figured he'd just found another one to add to his collection.

Things finally quieted down around the household again after that, much to Tsuna's relief. He noticed that Lambo limited his affections to Kyoya and Tsuna, although he never minded it when he had to share his time with his Tsuna-nii with Reborn as well. Tsuna did notice that while Reborn had taken on the training of Lambo and hadn't minded this new development, the older man was strangely reticent about embracing Lambo as an additional partner for himself. When he'd asked, Reborn had simply said that it was hard to get too attached to someone that you knew you'd have to give up again eventually and that he had enough in his life now that he was afraid of losing.

It was something Tsuna hadn't understood at the time and so he'd shrugged it off. He figured it out, however, when Futa returned to the household towards the end of Lambo's final year of high school. Having finished his undergraduate studies, he'd decided to return to the household while working on an advanced degree. Apparently living with so many strangers hadn't appealed to him enough to do it any longer than he'd had to, so he'd only submitted applications for graduate programs close to home.

Lambo had vanished the day Futa returned. They'd looked everywhere for him and always seemed to be just one step behind him. Futa and Tsuna searched high and low and time after time, favorite spot after favorite spot, but kept finding themselves one step behind. Finally, Futa had sighed in frustration and stopped in the hallway, eyes losing focus as he had stretched his power out, letting it unfurl from his body. As things floated around him, he'd communed silently and then nodded to himself as things settled back down to earth again.

After that, Futa had left Tsuna behind, telling him that he'd handle this himself. Tsuna was never sure what had happened between the two, but soon Lambo's focus had turned to revolve around Futa steadily. Futa seemed happy with that, and within a month, the easiest place to find Lambo was wherever Futa was, when the older boy was home from school. Lambo still sought out Tsuna when he was lonely or wanted a different sort of comfort that he only got from Tsuna, and Tsuna was always happy to provide it for him, but it was clear that the tourniquet he'd provided for Lambo's broken heart was no longer needed.

That was when he understood what Reborn had said. Lambo was someone it was painfully easy to love and incredibly hard to give up. He was a combination of sweet and explosive and he made everything around him interesting and exciting. When he spent time with you, you were the absolute center of his attention until he left.

It was bittersweet to watch Lambo grow in his relationship with Futa, for Tsuna and surprisingly for Kyoya as well, who had indulged the boy shamelessly in ways Tsuna would never have expected. He still joined them occasionally, but only when Futa was tied up elsewhere or too busy to focus on Lambo exclusively. Neither of them could bring themselves to turn him away, however, because no matter how bittersweet it was, they couldn't resist that adorable, enthusiastic look in his eyes or the casual affection he gave them. That was just how it was, with the baby of their Family.

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*Title translates to "stupid cow".


	36. Chapter XXVIII: Sine sole sileo

**Chapter XXVIII: Sine sole sileo (Sawada Household / Namimori / Current Day)**

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****A/N: **As always I owe an enormous thank you to Ai-chan and thi_hoai, for all of their help in inspiring and beta reading this beast.

This chapter is NC-17/Mature. It contains gay sex, in the form of R27, with references to X27.

This is the second to last chapter, my friends! I had planned on inserting another Interlude before this chapter, but after polishing it, I find that it will fit better in the next story arc, _Ex umbra in solem_. So I'm holding it back so that it makes more sense in context. It's a wonderful Verde chapter that I hope you'll enjoy, and you will be seeing it soon enough.

This is the start of the end for _Vivi memor leti_. This is the last full chapter, with the last chapter acting as a closing book end to the stories I started in this story arc. But many of you have noticed the hints dropped here and there throughout the story about future events yet to come. I plan to expand on those and continue to weave in clues and patterns that will lead to the future that I believe this Tsuna will create.

In addition, now that the TYL arc is coming to an end in the manga, I can update the range of anime episodes and manga chapters I can pull information from, which will allow me to expand more thoroughly on a number of theories I was waiting to fully address.

_Ex umbra in solem_ will focus on the efforts to remove the Arcobaleno curse while the young Family finishes high school. It will also branch out into more points of view, focusing primarily on Tsuna, Xanxus, Hibari, Gokudera and Reborn as the story moves forward. There will also continue to be amusing or dramatic Interludes. You'll also see more of Chrome, Ryohei, and other characters.

Lastly, a quick note on the girls! Just because they aren't prevalent in the story to date, please don't assume I've written them out. Each will play a strong and important role in the Vongola Family in the future. So I did my best to incorporate them here, in a household scene that I thought would express how common their presence around the others really is.

Enjoy!

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If there was one thing Tsuna should have always remembered, it was that Lambo and study sessions never mixed well. Inevitably Reborn, Hayato or I-pin got the boy so riled up he couldn't take it and the same thing would happen. The 10-year-bazooka would appear and Lambo would use it to escape the situation. Occasionally, something worse would happen and someone else would be hit instead. Today had turned out to be one of those days.

Tsuna stared in horror at the large poof of pink smoke where Reborn had been just moments before and waited for the smoke to clear, his whole body shaking in fear. This had happened before and with terrible consequences. He remembered it so clearly.

He knew the others could never understand his terror and were staring at him in shock, but Tsuna remembered seeing Reborn hit with the bazooka and finding out that the reason that no future Reborn appeared after the smoke cleared was because Reborn was dead in the future. It didn't matter what he'd heard from the future Kyoya; no matter how hard he tried to breathe, he couldn't. He could feel himself panicking and couldn't stop himself at all. His vision was beginning to blur and he fell forward into arms that caught him easily.

"I'd almost forgotten what a big crybaby you were, Tsuna," a dark, deep voice muttered against his ear as those arms steadied him and then straightened him up again, holding him close. "But I suppose I can imagine why you're such a mess all of a sudden. Still, there's no need to cry like a girl over me. You'll just be feeding my ego."

A deep breath later and Tsuna's eyes were clearing, still wet but no longer blurry, and he stared up in shock at a very tall, very dangerous looking hit man wearing an adult version of Reborn's suit and hat. If it weren't for a larger and more aggressive looking Leon around his shoulders, Tsuna might have had a hard time recognizing him. Some part of his mind also noticed that this Reborn looked slightly different than his had looked when he'd changed form just a week or more ago; not different but younger. It took a couple of blinks and shakes of his head before he could really think again, much less speak.

"Reborn?" he asked shakily, reaching out a hand to touch him. He was terrified it was an illusion, and if it was, he was absolutely sure he would break completely this time and never heal. He still had too many memories of losing Reborn to deal with. "Is that really you?"

"Someone should kill that fucking little cow brat," Reborn grumbled, before lifting Tsuna up into his arms as Tsuna's knees gave out. "Or shoot him every time he pulls that fucking thing out of his ridiculous hair." Spotting Lambo hiding behind Hayato, Reborn glared at him. "You hear me, brat? Start running now and maybe you'll survive to see puberty. When I get back again I'm going to make you cry for days, I'll train you so hard."

Lambo ran, a sign of growing wisdom in the boy, Tsuna found himself thinking dazedly. He saw I-pin flee as well, and Futa followed them both out the door. None of that mattered quite as much as the fact that Reborn was holding him and was alive and well and so fucking big. He twisted his head trying to get a good mental grasp of the size of an adult Reborn. He had to do a lot of twisting because there was a lot of Reborn. What set him blinking again was that this Reborn really did look younger than the last time he'd seen Reborn's body shift in this time.

"Quit squirming, Tsuna, or I'll drop you on your ass," Reborn told him, arms tightening around him snugly. "This is twisted enough as it is, seeing you like this." Looking at the others who'd been studying with Tsuna, he glared. "Beat it, kids. You can play with him again tomorrow. Your boss and I need to have some quiet time alone."

Much to what was clearly Reborn's pleasure, Hayato stood first and bowed respectfully before packing his things to go. "Of course, Reborn-san. Boss, we'll finish studying before class tomorrow. Come an hour early. I'll make flash cards for you tonight."

"Yeah, I'll see you guys then," Takeshi agreed cheerfully, standing. "It's good to see that you grow up eventually. I was beginning to think you were one of those little people." Winking cheerfully at Tsuna and Reborn, he gathered his things as well.

"But…" Haru and Kyoko gazed between all of the boys and this new, strange man, "who is this strange man? Is it safe to leave Tsuna-san with him?" Haru asked, nervously packing up her things.

"He's a friend of the boss's old man," Hayato told them, thinking quickly. "They've done a lot of work together in the past, and Tsuna knows him pretty well."

"Oh, thank goodness," Kyoko sighed and relaxed, helping to clean up the last of the mess. "Tsuna-kun, we'll see you tomorrow morning then. Haru and I can make lunch for everyone as a reward for studying hard and especially Gokudera-kun for making us flash cards." She smiled sweetly at all of them.

"I told you, call me Hayato," the boy grumbled, offering to carry both the girls' bags down for them so that they could carry the dishes. "Boss, see you later."

Tsuna just watched as his once extremely crowded bedroom was suddenly empty. Then he yelped as he was tossed on the bed and the sound of the door locking was heard. Blinking in shock, he looked up at Reborn curiously, only to widen his eyes in shock as he watched the older man take off his fedora and jacket, setting them neatly on Tsuna's desk and on the back of his chair. Leon climbed down to nap in the last of the late afternoon sun on the desk.

"I'm sorry Reborn. It really was an accident," Tsuna said soothingly, wriggling himself up into a sitting position. "You wouldn't have been hit at all if I hadn't kicked the bazooka away from Takeshi. The last time he switched with his adult self while he and Hayato were both here, Hayato and I learned a lot of words we wish we hadn't, and I still can't get some of the mess those two made out of my spare blanket." Tsuna made a rude face at that. "I'm beginning to think being a raging pervert is contagious."

"If it is, you're the start of the infection," Reborn told him before settling onto the bed next to him, loosening his tie and leaning back against the wall, arms behind his head.

He felt so small all of a sudden, next to this adult Reborn. He'd gotten one long, hot scorching moment with the adult Reborn before his power had faded and he'd returned to his cursed state again. None of that compared to having the man sitting next to him on his bed his mother's house.

Tsuna often compared Xanxus to a lion but Reborn was a tiger, all lean lines, power coiled in every muscle, and attitude that radiated from every cell of his body, even as he relaxed. The sheer deadliness of the man vibrated through Tsuna and left him wide-eyed again. What shocked Tsuna the most, however, was that he felt absolutely no fear. That deep, dark power that was Reborn simply wrapped itself around Tsuna like a warm blanket or a loving cat, purring and stroking against him in pleasure. So he wasn't scared in the least by this. Instead, he felt elated.

"None of that is important right now," Tsuna shook his head before refocusing before leaning closer to him to get a better look. "You're alive, Reborn." He couldn't stop from reaching out to touch him, just to be sure. "You were hit with the bazooka and you came here. I was so scared there would be nothing but air." By that point he was so enthralled by this transition that he didn't even realize that his tears had finally started falling and trailing down his cheeks.

"Did you think all of these things you've decided to do won't change things, Tsuna?" Reborn asked him, flicking Tsuna's nose with a rough finger. "You made the decision to prevent things that you've seen and in doing so, you have saved people. The world is different from the future you remember and that Mukuro has documented for the archives. Each of those differences can be mapped to choices made over the years."

"I was so weak," Tsuna sniffled and let himself cry then. "All of those horrible things happened to the people I love the most, because I was too weak to stand up and protect them the way I should have. You were gone, and Colonnello, Skull, Viper, and even Lal was so sick she could barely move. They were hunting the Family. My Family. Vongola-fucking-hunts." Wrapping his arms around his thighs, Tsuna buried his face in his knees, not caring that he was shaking with the tears.

"If I had done all these things now to try to stop that, and all there had been was air, I think that would have been the end for me," he said, his hands squeezing painfully tightly on his forearms. "If the people who mean the most to you die because you are too weak to protect them, then what's the point of living?"

"I could turn that around, little boss," Reborn said thoughtfully, kicking off his shoes and crossing his legs in front of him. "If I was so careless as to let myself be poisoned and killed in some future, then I've failed at my most important mission, which is to care for you. If you were gunned down by the enemy and I wasn't there, then I should have been killed for being too weak to be entrusted with you."

"Don't be an idiot!" Tsuna yelled, his head rising up as he wiped his tears away with his shirt sleeves. "I would never be stupid enough to let myself be shot down like that unless I knew I wouldn't actually die! Even if you couldn't be there with me, everything you've ever taught me would be. You raised me to be too smart to walk into ridiculous traps set by egomaniacs."

The laughter that filled the room shocked Tsuna out of his tears completely and he continued to rub at his face as Reborn laughed at him. There was something about the sound that soothed him and made him want to relax and find out what was so funny. Finally dry, he blew his nose with a tissue and sighed.

"Sorry," he said, smiling slightly at the older man. "It's been a really crappy month. Mostly because you're still mad at me right now, but that doesn't mean I should overreact to everything."

Reborn simply smirked at him and glanced over at Tsuna's desk again, his eyes drifting over his schedule for the day, before the smirk widened to a grin. Something low and deep inside Tsuna clenched tightly at the sight of that grin and not in a bad way. Tsuna blushed, unable to stop the wave of red that seemed to start at his feet and end in his hairline.

"If I remember right, Tsuna," Reborn purred now, arms moving at lightning speed to lift Tsuna and resettle him into his lap, "you've argued with me about security for you, met and spent a couple of days with Xanxus, seen your father and Basil, and this was the crash study session to help you pass your math test tomorrow. Am I right?"

Tsuna nodded at him slowly, more than a bit surprised at his memory of these things. Then the list caught up to him and he blushed even darker. This was the week he'd lost his virginity to Xanxus, and he knew Reborn knew about that, but not that this Reborn knew about that and it was making his head spin.

"Unlike some of the others you keep around you, Tsuna," Reborn continued with that purr in his voice, his hands turning Tsuna to straddle his lap, facing him, "I'm smart enough to remember what I've done in the past, and how long things like this might last. I have no problem with getting ahead of my past self on some things, especially when it comes to you. After all, you're already mine."

Before Tsuna could ask him what that was supposed to mean, Reborn kissed him, his mouth hot and possessive as it brushed his before becoming more aggressive. A scalding tongue running along his bottom lip enticed Tsuna into opening his mouth for him. Tsuna whimpered into Reborn's mouth as their tongues stroked against each other eagerly. His hands were fisting in Reborn's shirt as he shifted on his lap, squirming with excitement.

Chuckling against Tsuna's lips, Reborn pulled him closer indulgently, letting Tsuna feel how hard the older man was for him already. As the kiss broke, he nipped at Tsuna's mouth playfully as his hands wandered over the teenager, touching, teasing and exploring demandingly. Tsuna was unable to focus on any one thing because Reborn seemed to have hands everywhere and all of them touched parts of his body that seemed to be connected directly to his cock, the way Reborn was making it throb and ache.

"Reborn…" Tsuna moaned, arching into his touch urgently, desperate for more. "What are you…?"

"What am I doing, Tsuna?" Reborn chuckled and that voice vibrated through Tsuna's body. "I'm claiming what's mine while I can. I don't want you to ever forget who you belong to. All these fucking kids clinging to you are such a pain in the ass sometimes, and that fucking bastard…" He growled almost as though he didn't realize he was doing it.

Tsuna's shirt vanished and hit the floor on the other side of the room. Reborn took advantage of the newly revealed skin, marking it everywhere he could reach with teeth, tongue and lips. It was scorching and Tsuna couldn't help but moan and whimper for more as he panted softly, his head falling back to let Reborn do what he wanted.

"Are you angry with me about that?" Tsuna asked, almost afraid of the answer. "About them and the thing with Xanxus?"

"Little idiot," Reborn lifted Tsuna long enough to get him out of his pants and boxers before settling him on his lap again, practically purring as his hands wandered slowly over Tsuna's skin. "If it bothered me that much, I'd shoot them and get them out of the way."

Lifting Tsuna again to set him back on the bed, Reborn bent forward, his mouth trailing over Tsuna's stomach while his hand slid down to cup Tsuna's balls, fondling them lazily. "They're nothing but puppies compared to me, anyway."

With Reborn's hands touching him so intimately, Tsuna could understand what Reborn meant. There was nothing at all that he'd experienced up until this point that even came close to the way Reborn's touch was setting him on fire. Maybe it was part of that deep connection they had with each other, but it seemed like Reborn knew everything about his body that would make him lose his mind.

"You were so cute when you were this young, always blushing and stuttering," Reborn teased him, pushing him onto his back and crawling over him. He stopped at Tsuna's waist and lowered his head, giving his cock a long, hot lick. "But you smell too much like other people. It pisses me off. I haven't had the chance to make you taste like me, smell like me, feel like you're mine yet. I'll fix that now."

"I…I want to be yours," Tsuna admitted, watching him with wide, needy eyes. "But you can't tell the other you. He'll make me train until I die and tease me constantly about it."

Reborn threw his head back and laughed loudly at that, beyond amused. "Silly Tsuna. Do you think I haven't been watching you since the first day I saw you, the new boss, given to me to raise and protect? I know everything about you, Tsuna. Everything."

Tsuna flushed a deep red and squirmed under him. "You make me feel like I'm a pervert or something for it."

"No, Tsuna," Reborn nipped at his hip reassuringly, his hands working on shoving his own clothing off now. His shirt and tie joined Tsuna's clothing on the floor as he slid his body over Tsuna's slowly, letting him get a feel for the older man. "You learned very quickly to see the true me, not the cursed body I was stuck in. Love should be like that. You're not doing anything wrong in just wanting something that you'll have in time anyway. You just have to solve the puzzle to get it."

"Reborn…" Tsuna smiled at him and it was such a warm echo of what Reborn was lucky enough to see almost every day in his own time that Reborn groaned and stretched up to kiss him, his tongue diving into Tsuna's mouth possessively, not wanting anyone else to see even a hint of the smile that was for him alone.

With Reborn's words, any restraint on Tsuna's part was gone and he lost himself in exploring Reborn's body. His adult body wasn't as pale as the cursed one and there was a dusting of dark hair along his chest and arms that thickened slightly as it trailed down his stomach. Tsuna's fingers followed that trail only to be frustrated by Reborn's belt. He put his hands to work removing the obstacle, tugging it off and tossing it aside before working on opening Reborn's pants.

Reborn stopped him long enough to pull a small bottle out of his pocket before allowing Tsuna to push them off. As he kicked them down the rest of the way and tossed them onto the floor, he held it up teasingly. Tsuna's brain quickly caught up to the implication that Reborn probably carried something like that with him all the time and Tsuna blushed again, but this time with a demanding shift of his hips and a soft moan.

With a flick of the cap, Reborn was slicking his long fingers and before Tsuna had a chance to even gasp Reborn was pressing a finger into him slowly. It stung in a slow, burning way and Tsuna was thankful for his time with Xanxus and what he had learned. He didn't want Reborn to have to coddle him through this. He wanted to demand, beg, and urge rather than be afraid. So he forced his body to relax, lifting his hips to help.

"That's my Tsuna," Reborn murmured, his mouth returning to Tsuna's cock to lap at it lazily. "You're always so eager for me, demanding more and more until neither of us can move and still we keep trying. You always leave me wanting to fall asleep buried inside you so I can wake up and take you all over again."

His words, his mouth and his finger were driving Tsuna insane and he clawed at the sheets desperately, his hips lifting demandingly as he adjusted to the penetration. Reborn rewarded him with another finger but took his time with this, wanting to burn it into Tsuna's memory forever. He knew, because his younger self was watching the clock, exactly how much time he had here. When Tsuna cried out a babble of needy words, it made Reborn grin.

"Xanxus was good about teaching you how to fuck, Tsuna, but I'm going to show you what it means to make love. That way, you'll always know why it's different with me than anyone else," Reborn told him, fingers curling inside him slightly, making Tsuna buck and yowl with pleasure. "And you'll remember why you always make me come home early and leave late, and never let me lose myself in anything but you."

If anyone was lost at the moment, it was Tsuna, who couldn't think, couldn't speak, could only listen and feel and move. His hips moved eagerly, practically fucking himself on Reborn's fingers now. His hands gave up the sheets to tug at Reborn's shoulders pleadingly, desperate for more.

"So cute," Reborn smirked at him again, slowly pulling his fingers out. "Tell me what you want, Tsuna. I want to hear you ask me for it for the first time."

Tsuna looked up at him desperately before focusing enough to think again. Reaching up, he touched the side of Reborn's face gently. Somehow, that instinctive part of him that was so much smarter than he normally was knew what Reborn wanted, no, needed to hear right now. "Love me, Reborn. Please love me."

"How can I resist that?" Reborn asked before lifting Tsuna's thighs over his arms and pushing into him slowly. He took his time, savoring the sensation of burying himself in Tsuna. "Don't you know, Tsuna? I already do love you."

That was all Tsuna needed to hear and he was lost completely. The minute Reborn freed them, his legs wrapped around Reborn's waist, holding him close. His arms wound around Reborn's neck, clinging to him. He was sure that Reborn had achieved his goal here because he was sure that nothing could compare to his absolute need for the older man.

"Tsuna…" Reborn groaned in pleasure before sliding his arms under him and lifting him, moving to brace Tsuna's back against the wall, using his own weight to brace him there. When he had Tsuna settled, he started moving, his hips driving up in sharp but small thrusts, never fully pulling back. He wanted to stroke that spot deep inside Tsuna over and over again and feel every clench the sensations caused. "You're so tight around me. Can you feel it, how you're pulling me into you?"

"Reborn…" Tsuna wailed, his hand fisting in Reborn's hair. "So deep, inside me…"

Chuckling darkly, Reborn kept it up, pulling Tsuna into a deep kiss, his tongue stroking Tsuna's in time to their hips. It was an enormous strain on his self-control to maintain this when all he wanted to do was bury himself in Tsuna roughly, over and over, and mark every bit of his skin. That could wait until he was back in his own time, in his own bed, but for now he had this chance to leave a deep impression on his lover and he wasn't about to fuck it up by being impatient.

"Tell me Tsuna, do you like this?" Reborn teased, nipping at his bottom lip.

"Love…" Tsuna yowled and tilted his hips urgently, trying to force Reborn to speed up, "…love it. Love you, Reborn, always. This… I only want this with you. Only you, ever."

"Say it again," that deep, dark voice growled now, his control strained further by Tsuna's words. "Let me hear you say it again, Tsuna."

"I love you," Tsuna said, moaning in pleasure. "Only you can have me like this. I swear."

The sound of Reborn's control snapping was almost audible, and he pulled back almost completely from Tsuna's body before driving into him again in a long, deep thrust. Tsuna's wail merged with Reborn's moan of pleasure and in moments they were both lost, moving and thrusting and kissing, tongues sliding along each other around panting and moaning until finally Tsuna was unable to hold out any longer.

"Mine," Reborn snarled and buried himself as Tsuna cried out his name and broke, spilling over his own stomach in hot waves. Without a second thought Reborn lifted him and laid him down onto the bed before moving again, burying himself in that beloved shaking, trembling, yowling body a few last times before he cried out Tsuna's name, filling him in hot waves as he shook over him. "Never forget that, Tsuna. You're mine."

Tsuna whimpered beneath him in agreement, flushed with pleasure and panting with exertion. He almost sobbed as Reborn slowly pulled out of him, his body clinging to the older man. Smugly pleased at having proved his point and taught Tsuna this lesson, Reborn kissed him lazily. It was a loving and indulgent kiss full of affection and Tsuna soaked it in, relaxing back into the bed slowly.

"So cute," Reborn purred, finally falling to the bed himself and pulling Tsuna against him. "You're always so cute afterwards, like a happy kitten."

Blushing, Tsuna snuggled against him, arm sliding around his waist. "At least I grow up into a giant raging pervert with someone precious to me. I can live with that."

He watched Reborn as the older man reached for the box of tissues and carefully cleaned both of them up before pulling him close again. Happy, he nestled in Reborn's arms comfortably. This experience would stay with him and tint every other experience he had, and he was somehow really happy for that. It added perspective to what he'd experienced before with his friends and with Xanxus that made him more comfortable with all of it, somehow. He knew that his friends would eventually find experiences like that with other people and that made him happy, too.

"Tsuna," Reborn started softly, nuzzling against his hair, "things are going to be hard for a while still. You have difficult choices to make and a lot of things to figure out. I'll be there with you through all of it, so don't be too worried as things happen."

"How do you always know what to say to make me feel better, Reborn?" Tsuna looked up at him curiously, rubbing a cheek against his chest. "It's like some strange power of Tsuna-taming."

"It's because I'm the best," Reborn told him, smirking again. "It's also because I believe in you."

"I won't forget," Tsuna said, before a yawn overtook him. "Sorry, I'm just so tired all of a sudden."

"I know," Reborn tucked the covers around them better and rubbed his back soothingly. "Sleep. I'll be here in one form or another when you wake up. I promise."

There was something about the lack of concern Reborn had about his younger self returning to find a naked and very well-loved Tsuna that should have caught Tsuna's attention, but he was so tired. Brushing it off, he obeyed Reborn instead, letting himself drift off to sleep in arms that made him feel so safe that not even his nightmares could reach him. It would be a good night, and for that he was grateful.

Reborn stayed awake, watching him sleep and soothing away any sign of a nightmare until Tsuna reached the deeper sleep stages. Then he simply watched him, enjoying this quiet time in the past, Leon perched on his shoulder as asleep as Tsuna was. When the world finally shifted around him and took him back to his time, the only regret he had was leaving his new suit behind. Tsuna loved that suit, but Reborn was sure his boss would understand. Knowing his Tsuna, the little version of him would probably wear it whenever he felt like it, to make himself feel better.

When the younger Reborn returned to his own time, he found himself sitting on Tsuna's pillow. Tsuna himself was dead asleep in the bed, tucked in up to his chin. Curious, Reborn gave the room and Tsuna a thoughtful glance and then sniff before smirking slightly. It had worked, then.

He'd had to do some clever maneuvering to get hit by that stupid bazooka and make it look accidental, but it had ended well. His older self had apparently stepped up as properly as he'd expected and done what needed to be done. He hadn't been sure there'd be enough time, but apparently his efforts in recording these time shifts had paid off. In the meantime, he'd enjoyed a little time with the older Tsuna, who looked remarkably like he did now, if a bit taller. Good espresso and a fireside conversation had left him content and happy.

All in all, it was a day that had ended well for Reborn. His Tsuna was properly marked and had been taught, and would never consider straying, even while Reborn was burdened with this curse. He'd given the boy something precious today, hope for the future. It had worked out as well as, or better, than he'd planned. Satisfied, he changed into his pajamas and curled up on Tsuna's pillow with him, tugging the covers up around his chin as well. It didn't bother him in the least that Tsuna was naked. In fact, it made for rather pleasant dreams.

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*Title translates to "Without the sun I'm silent".


	37. Chapter XXIX: Verba de futuro

**Chapter XXIX: Verba de futuro (Sawada Household / Namimori / Current Day)**

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**A/N:** I can't believe this is the final chapter of _Vivi memor leti_. The story will continue in its next story arc, _Ex umbra in solem_, the first chapter of which will be posted the same day this chapter is posted. Still, it's amazing that what started as a challenge for NaNoWriMo topped 100,000 words before moving into its second part.

As always, I have to thank Ai-chan and thi-hoai for sticking with me, Ai-chan as inspiration and thi_hoai as a patient and loving beta reader. They're moving on to the next story arc with me, which makes me very, very happy.

What will you see in _Ex umbra in solem_? You'll see more growth for all of the characters as they move towards adulthood. Of course there will be the fumbling and challenges of being teenagers growing into a dangerous world. There will be more glimpses of the future as well. I think that it will more than match up to its prequel, _Vivi memor leti_.

In the meantime, please enjoy the last chapter!

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When Tsuna woke the following morning, the first thing he saw as his eyes opened was his Reborn, snoozing contentedly on his pillow. It didn't escape his notice that Reborn's feet were planted firmly on Tsuna's cheek, either. Obviously whatever Reborn had seen of the future hadn't fazed him, leaving him as smug and confident as ever. It was reassuring, in some soul-deep way, that whatever Reborn had experienced had left him relaxed enough to sleep so well and still assert his dominance over Tsuna.

Smiling, Tsuna gently tucked the covers around Reborn just a bit more before stretching carefully to try and work out the kinks in his muscles. Stretching, however, brought wincing as his body complained about the varied abuses of the past several days. He swore softly and tried to sit up, only to fall back down onto the bed with a pathetic groan.

"Stop squirming around, Tsuna," Reborn scolded him, leaning over and bopping him lightly on his head with his fist. "Lie down and rest. You're disrupting my beauty sleep."

"But I have school today, Reborn," Tsuna replied, trying to sit up and failing once again, this time whimpering at the ache that ran throughout his body. "I've got to meet Hayato and Takeshi to study before class or I'm going to fail that test. I didn't get any studying done at all last night, because of you."

"As much as it pisses me off to have you miss a school day," Reborn said, sitting up fully and looking over at him as calmly as ever, "you're in no condition to go today. I'd bet you wouldn't be able to sit still through one class, much less all of them, anyway." He smirked slightly, looking overly smug, and Tsuna turned a deep, dark red at the implications of that smirk. "It looks like you had an interesting evening while I was away."

"Um… well…" Flushing, Tsuna flailed mentally, trying to figure out what or what not to say.

Should he assume Reborn knew what had happened? Was he going to have to explain to him that they'd had sex together only it was the older Reborn who'd done it with Tsuna? He struggled for a long moment before noticing the evil gleam of amusement in Reborn's eyes. Tsuna held out an accusing finger, pointed right at Reborn.

"You're a worse pervert than I am in the future." There! That was better, he thought to himself. After all, he'd been the one who had been seduced this time, by someone who was clearly an adult, too. Although it still nagged at him how the Reborn of last night hadn't looked as adult as the Reborn he'd seen the night Tsuna had been shot.

"It must have been a very interesting evening then," Reborn replied, smirking more. "Did you learn your lesson, Tsuna?"

Tsuna's blush deepened, but rather than giving in to an instinctive outburst of panic, he took a calming breath and then nodded. "I did, very much so. Not just that, but I think it balanced me, a bit. I didn't realize how off center I was feeling from everything that's happened lately and how confused I've been. It made everything seem a lot simpler in the end."

In fact, every detail of the previous night was branded into his mind and he knew that he'd never forget the lesson he'd been given and the meaning behind it. It all broke down into very simple concepts in the end. Reborn was Reborn, no matter what body he was in. Reborn wanted Tsuna. Reborn had Tsuna regularly and enthusiastically in the future. Most importantly, however, was that Reborn loved Tsuna and Tsuna was his. It all made Tsuna a bit dizzy, and very shortly he flopped back onto the pillow next to Reborn, rubbing his forehead, cheeks still a bit pink.

"Don't think I'm gonna go all Bianchi on you, Reborn. I can't do the fan girl thing. You can feed yourself and I don't think I'd be good at the whole stalking thing," Tsuna grumbled at his tutor good-naturedly. "But since I always carry you everywhere and let you sleep with me every night you want to anyway, that's all fine. Don't think I'll be all girly and stuff, though. I'm a man, you know. There'll be no girly confessions or star-filled eyes." He huffed lightly, puffing his cheeks out indignantly.

Reborn chuckled and tucked himself back in comfortably. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Tsuna. You should always be yourself. Isn't that what I keep trying to tell you?"

What went unspoken between them was the new depth of understanding and acceptance they both felt. It brought an inner peace to each of them and a resolution that each recognized it in the other. The realization of that made Tsuna smile softly as he settled back in comfortably next to Reborn.

"You're right, Reborn," Tsuna told him, hand reaching out to brush all that crazy black hair, enjoying how soft it was to the touch. "I promise not to forget that again."

"Good, because things are going to get harder from here on, Tsuna," Reborn looked at him with serious eyes now. "The you of the future was incredibly stubborn about refusing to tell me much of anything. You kept going on about puzzles and solutions and I ended up beating you to get you to stop. Then you fed me and I forgot what I was asking about." Reborn flushed slightly at the memory of the older Tsuna, something which entertained the younger Tsuna quite a bit. "You're a lot more grown up ten years from now, but still way too young to be keeping secrets from me like that. Not when you still have some of that baby face of yours."

"You were the same way, so don't go complaining about me. All you said was that I had to solve the puzzle to make things right." Tsuna rolled that idea over in his head, combined with what he remembered from the dark and twisted future. "I know I'll figure it out somehow. I can't afford not to."

"There are a lot of changes coming, Tsuna," Reborn said quietly, not making a move to stop Tsuna's continued stroking of his hair, instead seeming to enjoy it. "We have to move you soon. It's not safe for you to stay in the house much longer, not after an attack like that last one. More importantly, we have to start looking more to the future now. Time is flying and you're growing up fast. I tried to keep as much of this as possible from you the past few years because I wanted you to have a chance to grow into being a good boss, but I can't hold it off much longer."

"I used to think at the end of each battle that I'd be able to go home and resume that normal, happy life. Those quiet days we all enjoy so much, you know? Now I'm starting to realize that maybe my job in all of this is to make sure that everyone else in the Family gets to have those days, whether I do or not. I feel like there won't be so many of them for me to enjoy myself anymore." Tsuna couldn't stop his fingers from continuing the petting, since Reborn was being so agreeable.

"You're learning, Tsuna," Reborn looked at him sadly. "Being the boss is the hardest of the jobs in the mafia. You have all the power of the organization at your fingertips, but the responsibility for all of that falls squarely on your shoulders. You're starting to see that more and more. Sending the Varia out like you have, knowing that you're tainting them as much as yourself is a good example of that."

"I hate it, Reborn," Tsuna's hand finally stopped as he met Reborn's eyes. "I hate that I have to ask them to do things like this, whether they mind doing them or not. But if there's one thing I've learned, it's that I'll do anything, anything at all, to protect our Family. If that means using the tools at my disposal, then I have to do that, as much as I hate it."

"You wouldn't be my choice for the next boss, or Iemitsu's, if you found it easy to make decisions like that, Tsuna. It's your conscience and your heart that make you the right choice. Loyalty is something that's hard to earn when you don't view your followers as something to be valued personally." There was something in Reborn's eyes that both saddened and encouraged Tsuna. It was a combination of regret for dragging Tsuna into such a dangerous world, and a fierce, violent pleasure that Tsuna was turning out the way that Reborn had hoped he would.

"No one is ever expendable, Reborn, not even our enemies. Not to me. I hate the idea of killing," his mind flashed back on the end of his battle with Byakuran in the future and the brutal end Xanxus gave Kikyo, and he shuddered slightly. "But if I have to choose between our Family and someone who wants to hurt our Family, I'll do whatever it takes to keep our people safe. I would do that whether I was the boss or not."

"And that, Tsuna, is where you are different from Xanxus as he was when you first met him, and when he was younger. You both have an inordinate love for the Family in your own ways, but Xanxus has a more brutal, ruthless mindset. To him, members of the Family are a set of tools, rather than people to be cherished." Reborn looked slightly sad at that. "I can't blame him in some ways. The Ninth should have forbidden the boy any contact with his mother. She was deeply disturbed."

Tsuna blinked at him thoughtfully. "Were you around, then, when Xanxus came to the Vongola, Reborn?"

"I've been around the Vongola for a long time, Tsuna, a very long time." The look in Reborn's eyes warned Tsuna away from that subject. It wasn't a deliberate warning like he was used to when he irritated his tutor. This was a wash a pain that flashed through those dark eyes that had always seemed so calm and reliable, even when furious.

"Well, I guess I'm glad you were still there when it came time to teach me," Tsuna grinned at him, trying to wipe away that pain with affection. "I don't think anyone else could have taught me as well as you did, Reborn. I don't think anyone else could have convinced me that I was worth all of this work, much less that I'd someday have friends who were worth fighting for and who would fight for me."

"You still have a lot to learn," he was told in a smug tone of voice as Reborn stretched and yawned. "And I'm still tired. It's a lot more work to beat you up in the future than it is now." He tugged the covers back around himself snugly. "We'll take today off, and get back to work tomorrow."

"I get it," Tsuna replied, snuggling back in more comfortably as well. "Today we rest, and tomorrow we tell Mom that I'm moving out. That's the next step, I suppose."

"I can't wait until you have to tell her you like sleeping with other boys," Reborn snickered slightly. "Your face will probably explode from all that blushing."

"Reborn!" Tsuna rolled and buried his face in his pillow, thoroughly embarrassed now.

Reborn's chuckle eventually faded off into slow breathing, and Tsuna pulled his head up and smiled at the sight of Reborn dead asleep on the pillow next to him again. While some part of him wanted to get even for the teasing, another was exhausted and determined to take advantage of this hard-earned quiet day. So he snuggled back in and moved just enough so that his head was next to Reborn's. A few more minutes after that and they were both asleep, foreheads pressed together and hair mingling, totally oblivious to the world around them, for at least a few more hours.

_Fin_

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**End Note:** I'm posting the first chapter of _Ex umbra in solem_ right after this goes up, so please enjoy!

*Title translates to "words about the future".


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